I’m a planner. Those who know me are currently chuckling or rolling their eyes at me. I can feel it through the internet. For the past 11 years, I have made it my practice to lay out as much as a year of sermons in advance. Sometimes it is not that much. It depends on what God is directing our church toward. Last year, 2023, we spent the entire year in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), except for Dec., I usually have a Christmas-centered series for that month.
I begin praying and planning in June/July for the following year. Last Summer, the Lord began to speak to me about ministry Lessons from the Kings of Israel. I ordered a large wall sticky note. It was beautiful to see all those pages hanging on my office wall. Well, at least for a planner like me. Eventually, the Lord showed me 52 lessons from the lives of Saul, David, and Solomon…mostly. We will touch on other kings here and there. Of course, this will point to the ultimate King, Jesus.
I will preach this series and post a weekly blog from that week’s message. You can find that blog here at throughtimeblog.com or in the Church Center App under C3AG Louisville.
So, I invite you to JOIN ME FOR THE JOURNEY.
The first two weeks of this series will focus on aspects of King David’s and King Saul’s callings. I have chosen to begin with David as he is a positive story—next week, Saul’s…well, not so much.
I invite you to pause here and read 2 Samuel 2:1-7. (From this point forward, I will assume you know the context.
There are several important actionable steps here. For the sake of brevity, I will list each without much commentary.
Lesson 1: Ask God for His general will in your life.
“After this, David asked the Lord, ‘Should I move back to one of the towns of Judah.’ ‘Yes,’ the Lord replied.” 2:1a
Lesson 2: Ask God for His specific direction.
“The David asked, ‘Which town should I go to?’ ‘To Hebron,’ the Lord answered.” 2:1b
Lesson 3 – Verse 3: Be obedient to God when He answers.
“So David and his wives and his men and their families all moved to Judah.” 2:3
Through David’s prayers and act of obedience, God moved him into his calling. In verse 4, the people of Judah crowned him their king. His obedience did not simply make him Judah’s king, though that was a huge step to fulfilling God’s call. David honored the people of Jabesh-Gilead, which was not a part of Judah but the half-tribe of Manasseh, and, in turn, invited them to support him as their king. This sets up the consolidation of David’s power across all of Israel. 7.5 years later. That’s right. There is no indication that the people of Jabesh-Gilead followed David at that time. I hate waiting! But God often calls us to seasons of waiting.
Ultimately, David is the pinnacle of the kings of Israel. That started through prayer, obedience, and waiting.
Many of us wish to see God’s will fulfilled in our lives, but we fail to pray and act in obedience when the time comes. We certainly do not like waiting, but we learn to trust God’s plan in the waiting. These lessons are pivotal to our journey this year, so I chose to begin with David rather than Saul.
We are focusing on reaching 1,000 for Jesus in 2024-25. For that to be accomplished, we must pray and act in obedience. To see God’s will accomplished in your life, you, too, must pray, act in obedience, and be willing to wait on God’s timing.
I invite you to follow my blog so that you are notified each time a new one is posted, likely on Wednesdays of each week.
JOIN ME FOR THE JOURNEY!
Through Time 