Sunday Morning August 2, 2009
Bel Aire Baptist Church
Series: Pot Holes [#5]
WHEN YOU HAVE A BLOW OUT
1 Samuel 14:1-52
Introduction:
As you drive down the road of life, occasionally you will hit a pothole really hard and you will have a “blow out”. Whether you like it or not, it’s going to happen. When it happens, what do you do?
Your options are…
1. Ignore the situation.
2. Take action.
1 Samuel 13:23-4:3
Saul chose to ignore the situation. While Jonathan was sneaking away with his armor-bearer to fight the enemy, Saul and his 600 men did nothing. They were “hanging out” just hoping something would happen. When you hit a pothole, you can ignore it and just keep going on with your life like nothing happened; but it will eventually get you. What happens when you continue to drive on a flat tire? You will destroy the rim. Not fixing the flat will make it hard for you to do anything with that particular side of your vehicle in the future.
1 Samuel 14:4-14
Jonathan decided to take action.
His action was an…
> Act of faith. He wasn’t going to just sit around and let the enemy get position on them and destroy them. Jonathan knew that God would win the battle and that numbers meant nothing to God. He stepped out on faith.
> Act of unselfishness. Jonathan couldn’t inherit the kingdom. God made it very clear to Saul, when he ran ahead of God that no one in his family would inherit the crown and yet Jonathan still fought Israel’s battle even though he’d never be king.
Jonathan’s armor-bearer decided to take action.
His action was an…
> Act of obedience. The armor-bearer’s job was to carry his master’s heavy armor and be there to give him whatever weapons he needed. This armor-bearer followed exactly where he was told to go.
> Act of encouragement. Not only did the armor-bearer agree to follow, but he let Jonathan know he would be right there with him wherever he went. It is encouraging to know that there is someone that will go with us, even when it is uncomfortable.
It is amazing what one or two people can do if they just trust the Lord. Are you a Saul, a Jonathan, or an armor-bearer? God is not limited by numbers.
When someone is doing the work you can…
1. Watch them.
2. Work with them.
1 Samuel 14:15-24
Saul chose to watch the battle. Saul was a spectator.
A spectator…
> Speculates. Saul was told that the Philistines were scattering and so he took a head count to see who was gone. Once he realized who was gone, he wasn’t sure what to do. Was Jonathan actually able to pull this off? Probably not.
> Procrastinates. Since Saul wasn’t sure what was going to happen, he needed to stall for a little bit. He used God as his tactic to stall. How often have we used prayer as an excuse? Instead of getting involved as God has said; we say, “Let’s pray about it”. Prayer is absolutely necessary; but its purpose is to communicate with God, not to try to change His mind.
> Hesitates. One minute Saul was watching the battle then he was inquiring of the Lord, and then he was deciding to fight. Why would Saul inquire of the Lord when a victory was in progress? Why would he pause to see what God wanted him to do when he could see the enemy retreating; his own soldiers, who had defeated, revolting against the Philistines and the soldiers who fled, returning? In the midst of all this, what was Saul doing? He was hesitating.
Someone has said that there are three kinds of people in church today: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who don’t know that anything is happening. Jonathan and his armor-bearer were making things happen because they had faith in God. What they needed was for some others to get involved. Are you helping or watching?
Once the problem is solved, what is your motive for moving forward?
1. To glorify yourself.
2. To glorify God.
1 Samuel 14:24-48
Saul was about making himself look good.
A person that glorifies themselves…
> Is motivated by vengeance and pride.
> Makes foolish decisions. I believe Saul made this vow of them not eating in order to look spiritual. How smart is it to starve your soldiers? Do soldiers fight well when they are worn out and hungry? In order to look like a good leader, Saul was going to have Jonathan killed for eating honey.
> Leads others to sin. They were so hungry that they started eating meat with blood in it which was sinful.
A person who glorifies God simply does everything with God’s reputation in mind, not their own.
Conclusion:
Did Saul destroy the enemy? No. Could he have wiped them out? He probably could have been finished with the Philistines, but instead he stopped pursuing them. Because of that, we are told in verse 52 that Saul was at bitter war with the Philistines his entire life.
When you have a blow out; you need to stop, fix it, and then move forward. We do this not for ourselves but for the glory of God.
