SERMON NOTES :: Sunday, June 9, 2013 - Refusing to go to the Other Side

Mars Hill Fellowship Church Jun 10, 2013

 

MESSAGE |

Refusing to Go to the Other Side

SERIES |

Ask

SCRIPTURE |

1 Samuel 8:1-22

SPEAKER |

Pastor Joseph Ardayfio

KEY THEME |

  

I.  The framework of the Christian life is described in a familiar verse:  2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

  1. What does it mean to become new in Christ?
    1. We experience God’s abundant grace -   Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
    2. We turn away from the old way of living - Ephesians 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
    3. We live to please God - 1 John 5:3 - In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.
    4. A relationship with God does not come a’ la carte – as a side dish to other things. A relationship with God radically transforms everything about us – our appetite, our desires, our emotions, and our will.
  2. We have to accept that the Christian lifestyle is fundamentally different from the world around us.
    1. 1 Peter 2:9 - But [we] are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession (a peculiar people).

II.   In 1 Samuel 8, the nation of Israel and its leaders didn’t understand the beauty of their relationship with God and instead, they were blinded by the lust of “the other side”

  1. Until Jesus returns, there will always be “the other side” –  the choice of the way that pleases the flesh or the way that God designs. We constantly have to choose wisely the things of God.
  2. In 1 Samuel 8:5, the elders made a choice to go to the other side. They said to Samuel “Appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” They wanted to replace God, who had already promised to go out before them and fight on their behalf.

III.  We can learn 4 important lessons about how to ask God for his intervention without going to “the other side”

IV.  1 - The freedom to boldly ask God for whatever we need is birthed out of a relationship with God

    1. Asking God for his intervention is not a transaction with God but a part of our relationship with Him. When we have His heart in mind, it makes it easier to ask for the things that we need.
    2. Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD. And He will give you the desires of your heart.

V.  2 - Asking God to intervene in our lives presumes that we have prioritized the Kingdom of God

    1. God presumes that when we ask for His help, we have prioritized His will in our heart. When our motive is just to please the flesh, we miss out on God’s abundant provision.
    2. Jesus taught the disciples to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

VI.  3 - Asking God for His intervention requires us to listen to His answer

    1. In 1 Samuel 8:9, the Lord tells Samuel:  “Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”
    2. God was warning the people that what they were asking for was actually going to destroy them.
    3. Sometimes we refuse to accept God’s answers to our requests because of pride. A prideful heart tells us that we know better than God.
    4. 1 Samuel 8:19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us.

VII.  4 - We must be resolved that God always gives us His best

    1. To resolve means to reach a firm decision. It is more than ascertaining knowledge about something, it is a firm decision that prompts us to action in accordance with our resolution.
    2. Be resolved that you are loved by God with an everlasting love
      1. Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
    3. Be resolved that God desires what is best for you.
      1. Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!