IT’S TIME TO MOVE
I SAMUEL 16:1-13
• GOD HAS PLACES
• GOD SOVEREIGNLY SELECTS SCENES AND SETTINGS IN ORDER TO INSTITUTE AND INITIATE HIS WILL
• GOD IS GEOGRAPHICALLY STRATEGIC
• HE CONNECTS HIMSELF TO MAN NOT ONLY THROUGH HISTORY, BUT ALSO THROUGH GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY
• PLACES HOWEVER DO NOT HAVE GOD
• ON MARS HILL PAUL SPEAKS TO THE ATHENIAN LEADERS AND HE SAYS
• “THE GOD THAT MADE THE WORLD AND ALL THINGS THEREIN, SEEING THAT HE IS LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH DWELLETH NOT IN TEMPLES MADE WITH HANDS.”
• God transcends terafirma
• God cannot be circumscribed by his own creation
• God cannot be limited by location
• God cannot be regulated by laws of longitude and latitude
• God is not controlled by the compass
• God is not locked in by N, S, E, and W.
• God cannot be restricted by boundaries of brick and mortar
• God cannot be located by a gps
• In fact god is omnipresent
• He is everywhere at the same time
• Absent from no where at any time
• He meets himself coming when he’s going
• He meets himself going when he’s coming
• He exits when he enters
• He enters when he exits
• Hi’s up when he’s down
• He’s down when he’s up
• There is no controlling God he is boundless, endless and limitless
• He is timeless, eternal, and infinite
• God is not some local diety
• God is not some buddah that u can sit and put in your place
• God is not some moon deity
• I don’t mean any harm but I need to remind us that our God’s name is Jehovah
• His name is not buddah, brahma, allah, or muhammid.
• He is the only true and living God.
• And not only is he God, he’s got a son named jesus and he gave himself a name above every name.
• That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
• Our God is a great God and he is worthy to be praised
• The heavens are his throne
• The earth is his foot stool
• The prophet Isaiah reminds us that he measured the waters in the hallow of his hand
• He meaded out the heavens with a span
• Comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure
• Weighed the mountains in a scale and put the hills in a balance
• God has places that are assigned for the unveiling and unfolding of his purpose
• And I want to tell u tonight that whatever purpose God has for you…
• He will not only give you the purpose, but he will also give you the place
• And if God has put a word in your mouth, you don’t have to ask anybody to preach
• You don’t have to invite yourself to anybodies pulpit
• If god has called you to preach he will open doors and you gift will make room for you.
• So in Eden god put Adam to dress it and to keep it because God has places
• Noah and his family are on a mountain called Ararat because God has places
• Joseph is in a prison on his way to a palace, because god has places
• Samson’s hair is growing again in a philistine prison because god has places
• Elijah is being fed by Ravens on his way to a widows house because god has places
• John the Apostle is writing a revelation on the Patmos island because god has places
• God works in specific places
• And God works in specific people in those specific places
• Imagine the ministry of our master
• Could we really preach Jesus and not preach about his places
• If you think about it Jesus is sent from a place called heaven to a place called Bethlehem
• Concealed in a place called Egypt
• Reared in a place called Nazareth
• Baptized in a place called Jordon
• Tempted in a place called the wilderness
• Introduced in a place called Cana of Galilee
• Discovered in a place called Capernaum
• Confirmed in a place called Caesarea of Philippi
• Rejected in a place called Gadela
• Transfigured in a place called Mt. Taban
• Believed on in a place called Bethany
• Agonized in a place called Gethsemane
• Arrested in a place called the Kedrah
• Judged in a place called Goda
• Made to carry his cross to a place called the Via Dela Rosa
• Crucified on an old rugged cross in a place called Calvary
• Resurrected from a place called an old borrowed tomb
• Got on a cloud in a place called Mt. Olives
• And went back to heaven
• But I’m not done yet
• Not only did he leave
• He’s coming back again
• And when he does he’s coming back to split Mt. Olives and then reign for a thousand years
• God has places, but places don’t have god
• Because God is always on the move.
• Authentic and redemptive ministry can only take place when God moves the right people into the right places
• God has a place for you
• God has not forgotten where u are
• God knows your name
• God knows your address
• And even if nobody else knows you, god has a place for you.
• The only thing you have to do is to obey God
• When u obey God he moves you to where you need to be
• He’ll put you in places that people never would have put you
• Because God is on the move
• God puts people in holy paces to fulfill his eternal purpose
• That’s one of the most clear claims of this well worn narrative nestled away in I Sam Ch. 16
• Look at the text if you will
• God sends the prophet Samuel to the city of Bethlehem
• In verse 4, the movers and the shakers called the elders want to know why he came
• The asked do you come in peace?
• Why does god send a Samuel to a Bethlehem?
• Why does god send a preacher where there are already some elders or leaders.
• God sends the preacher Samuel to Bethlehem
• Because god wants Bethlehem to live up to its name
• The word Bethlehem means house of bread
• But without a preacher, Bethlehem can’t really be a house of bread
• You see Bethlehem was know as the bread basket of the Jordon valley
• But in order for Bethlehem to be what it was called to be it was going to need a preacher
• It was going to need a preacher because Moses made it clear that man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God
• If Bethlehem is to live up to its name that means that Bethlehem is gonna need a preacher
• You see Bethlehem’s purpose is to share the bread of life.
• That explains why the bread of life was born in Bethlehem’s barn.
• Jesus came into this world as the bread of life
• He took bread and broke it
• Gave thanks and gave it away
• Ministry if it is anything, ministry is a bread breaking enterprise
• And when god sends Samuel into Bethlehem he sends him into Bethlehem to tell them that they need more than something to live on.
• Everyone of us needs more than just something to live on
• We need something to live with
• We need something to live by
• We need something to live for
• We need more than creature comforts and bigger barns
• We need more than toys and trinkets that varnish with time
• We need more than houses and cars
• We need more than cash and checks
• We need more than boats and bling bling
• We need more than plasmas and play stations
• We need preachers who know how to break the bread
• We need more than good speakers
• We need bread breakers
• We need more than homiletics
• We need bread breakers
• We need more than a dialetical preaching model
• We need bread breakers
• God give us preachers that want to do more than entertain
• God give up preachers that don’t mind getting in the pulpit and breaking bread.
• We need preachers that have fallen in love with Jesus
• We need preachers that know the gospel
• We need preachers who know how to tell the story
• We need preaches that got an unction
• We need preachers that got a passion
• We need preachers who can rightly divide the word of truth
• We need preachers that aren’t afraid of church folk
• We need preachers who know how to break the bread.
• So Samuel went to Bethlehem because without a preacher all it is is a bread only city
• But with a preacher they could have the bread of life
• So I Samuel Ch 16 begins to teach us some things
• It teaches us what to expect when God is on the move
• Chapter 16 opens up with a conversation initiated by god to Samuel
• God says “how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel”
• Saul represented a system that Samuel was emotionally and spiritually tied to
• Saul and Samuel had history together
• Samuel anointed Saul
• Samuel warned Saul
• Samuel judged Saul
• All by the word of the lord
• And it came down to it that now Samuel is so invested that he mourns for Saul even though god is through with him.
• Saul’s disobedience in the valley of Amalech was enough
• The tests says this “and Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death, nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that he ever made Saul king over Israel”
• God was done with Saul
• But Samuel wasn’t ready to move on or to move ahead
• The text is plain, God…
• Repented, regretted, and rejected
• God said I have no future with Saul, it’s an old system that I’m not working with anymore, I have moved on past Saul.
• I. When god is on the move he requires redirection
• God provides redirection by rejection
• Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to announce to everybody that god is on the move
• God is doing a new thing
• It’s time to move on
• But instead of moving Samuel is mourning
• And there are two kinds of folks sitting in church today
o Folks that are mourning
o Folks that are moving
• There are people who spend all of their time mourning the past and will miss God’s move into the future
• Today we have a decision to make, are we going to spend our time mourning or moving.
• Stay in the past or move with God into the future
• Samuel learns that without rejection there can be no redirection for a new anointing
• Rejection is not personal
• Rejection is spiritual
• Rejection is used by God to put you where you should have been in the first place.
• Rejection is God’s instrument to bring you where you belong
• Jesus was rejected, he came to his own and his own received him not
• He was despised and rejected of men
• But here’s the good part
• The rejection was a set up for the resurrection
• If you’ve been experiencing rejection lately, get ready for a resurrection
• God is getting ready to raise you up
• Here is what you need to do
• First thank god for the rejection
• Then on your way home stop at the drug store and pick up a pack of those thank you cards.
• Then write:
• Thank you for not wanting me, because I didn’t know how much God loved me til you didn’t want me
• Thank you for not calling me back, I learned how to trust God
• Thank you for lying on me, because now I know God will uphold me with his right hand
• Thank you for putting me down because the minute you put me down, God picked me up.
• Tell someone, I thank God for the rejection, it was a set up for my promotion and blessing.
• If God is through with it, you need to be through with it as well
• And if God is moving on, you need to move with god and with those who are moving with God
• The good ole days were gone
• Samuel was going to have to make a decision
• Am I going to stick with this, or move on with God
• The story’s told about a young preacher who was pasturing a very traditional and established church
• The church was beginning to experience phenomenal growth.
• It got to the place where the sanctuary was no longer suitable for the congregation
• They were going to have to buy or build a new sanctuary
• The young preacher had a vision from God
• But he had to come to the church meeting and present his vision to the church
• And hear from the church
• So he came to the business meeting that night ready to share his vision
• He shared his vision of how god was telling the church to build a bigger and better sanctuary
• He finished his vision summary and was waiting for a response from the church
• About that time an aged deacon rose from his feet
• And said preacher I thank God for you, but we can’t move from this building
• The young preacher stood there not knowing what to say
• The deacon continued, but pastor we can’t move from this building that pulpit you preach from, my grandfather used to preach from there, and this chair I just arose from is where my daddy used to pray, and this post that I’m standing next to, I was saved standing right next to this post.
• Now preacher, I don’t mean to any harm, but we can’t move from this building.
• The young preacher stood there not knowing what to say and wile he was gathering his thoughts
• An old sainted sister in the rear of the building stood to her feet
• She said, pastor I would like to make a motion that we give that brother the post and move on with the plans
• There comes a time when you have to let people have the post and you have to move on with the program.
• If they’ll go along take them, if they won’t then leave them where they are, but you gotta move when god says move.
• Samuel came to the place where he learned that when god is on the move he requires redirection and redirection will sometimes not come until you’ve been rejected.
• II. But the text also teaches us the when God is on the move it will change how we’ve been doing church
• I’ve learned that the only people who really like change in a church are the babies with a wet diaper.
• Samuel asks god, “how can I go down to Bethlehem, if Saul hears I’ve gone down there, he will try to kill me”
• Samuel was afraid of something god wasn’t endorsing, a former thing
• But here is what God told him to do
• He said take a red hefer with you
• A red hefer was the marquis sacrifice in the Levitical law
• It is a full blown sacrifice, total to ashes sacrifice
• God says if your going to face this former thing your going to need a hefer with ya
• God was saying, Samuel what I have prepared for your life is going to cost, what I want to do with you is going to be expensive, your gonna have to take a hefer with ya
• In other words, your going to have to sacrifice your way to the next level
• God requires all of you, it is “I surrender all”
• Nothing really changes until somebody sacrifices
• It is when we finally let go that we finally discover that god has something better than what we had
• As long as we are clinging to our good, we’ll never get God’s best
• Change will cost you
• In order for God to move us, we have to give up something
• In order for God to move us we may have to sacrifice some traditions we’ve been holding on to
• Maybe there are some Pentecostal politics we are going to have to sacrifice
• Maybe there are some agenda we are going to have to rip up and start all over again
• God is on the move
• The Christian faith is rooted in a sacrifice
• If Calvary teaches us anything, it teaches us that god is willing to give up his best and his dearest in order to make a change.
• We won’t change until we are willing to sacrifice
• Your gonna have to take a hefer with you
• Samuel comes to God and God says I’m ready to work a change
• III. Samuel learns that day, that when god moves he requires redirection, he changes how we’ve been doing church, and he chooses whom he pleases
• Samuel arrived with the sacrifice and Jesse and his sons were there
• Samuel looked at the oldest and said, surely this is the lords anointed
• But 7 times the tall, dark, and handsome passed beneath the vile, but the oil wouldn’t flow
• The Lord corrects Samuel and says I don’t work like you work, because man looks on the outside appearance, but I look in the heart.
• God alone sets the criteria for the call
• Resumes, references, appointments, elections, polls, opinion, they don’t determine whom God is going to use
• God will promote folks you don’t like
• He’ll anoint people you can’t stand
• He’ll bless people you have been rolling your eyes at
• We are children of Abraham and we are tied to the covenant
• I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those that curse you
• You need to be nice to a believer because there’s a blessing in every saint and if you can hook up with somebody who is blessed maybe you might get a blessing as well.
• God is going to use you
• God chooses whom he pleases
• God can use whoever he wants to use
• God can find you in a gutter and take you into a palace
• God will use you no matter how he finds you
• Abraham was a nomad, but God made him the father of many nations
• Jacob was a trickster, but God made him a prince of nations
• Gideon was a farmer, but God made him a leader
• Esther was an orphan, but God made her queen
• Nehemiah was a cupbearer, but God made him a governor
• Shadrach, Meshack, and Abendigo were Hebrew exiles, but God made them Hebrew heroes
• Paul was a persecutor, but god mad him a preacher
• Touch your neighbor and tell them
• Christ can do it
• I am what I am by the grace of God
• What I have the Lord gave me
• Who I am the Lord made me
• Where I go the Lord leads me
• It’s time to move
• Move into glory
• Move into grace
• Move into peace
• God is on the move
• He moved on Pentecost Sunday
• And He is still moving today
• It’s time to move
