The next 4 Sundays (Apr 13th to May 4th) I'm going to be preaching on king Saul (my first ever go at preaching a series). I'm approaching the 4 sermons as follows:
1. Selection (why was Saul chosen? compare this to the selection of David, and ultimately to Jesus, who had "no beauty that we should desire him")
2. rejection (What went wrong? compare Saul to David. How do we rationalise our disobedience? what does real repentance look like?)
3. Dejection. (Saul's paranoid jealousy of David. The destructiveness of jealousy. God's solution to jealousy -- Psalm 73:23-28)
4.Disconnection. (Saul's involvement with the occult and final suicide. The sin of accidie -- spiritual sloth. The solution, childlike trust -- Psalm 131)
Soooo .. with all that on my mind, I just came across this great quote in my research:
The world needs leaders...
who cannot be bought;
whose word is their promise;
who put character above wealth;
who possess opinions and a will;
who are larger than their vocations;
who do not hesitate to take chances;
who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
who will be honest in small things as well as in great things;
who will make no compromise with wrong;
whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it";
who are true to their friends through good report and
evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and
hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success;
who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth
when it is unpopular, who can say no with emphasis,
although the rest of the world says yes.
-- Paul Borthwick
3 comments:
David, unlike Saul, was big on the inside. It is an encouraging message for those of us who don't play NBA basketball :)
I don't know if Blogger will let me comment.
It is early morning Sunday 4/13 for you there, so you are likely getting ready for the first of the series of sermons on Saul. May God be with you -- my prayers are, as always.
This goes on my fridge--the public announcement place in my house.
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