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Episode 501: In this episode, we delve into 1 Samuel chapter 9, where Saul gets anointed as the first king of Israel. We explore the significance of Saul's anointing, highlighting how God chooses individuals regardless of their background or past mistakes. We emphasize the idea that God can use anyone for great things, and we shouldn't underestimate how He wants to work through us. We encourage our listeners to embrace their unique gifts and potential in serving God, reminding them that God's plans for us are beyond what we can imagine.
Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.
Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Well, hey, good morning everyone. We are the Bible Guys today. This is Wesley. Wesley is joining us because Jeff is out of pocket, and so we are very excited to have you back as always. Yeah, it's going to be an awesome week this week. Yeah, you do you enjoy being on the Bible Guys. I do enjoy it because I feel like when I come on the Bible Guys, Yeah, I'm coming into a very regal environment. Oh yeah, sure, it's regal fancy. That's so funny. So Wesley works at our church, the same church at Jeff and I work out together, just outside of Detroit in Michigan. And yeah, so he's been on staff. Forever yeah, twenty thirteen. Yeah, yeah, yeah maybe for me, I was twenty twenty. Wow, So I can't believe it's been that long for me. Yeah. So, anyway, we have a segment together, which will be interesting because I don't know you like I know Jeff. So this segment that Desiree put together is who's most likely? Okay, so how. About if I read the first one, and then we'll just take a shot at who is most likely to do these things? You ready, yeah, I'm ready? All right, So we go Wesley, who's most likely to try cooking a gourmet meal with only ingredients from a vending machine? Ooh, I'll take my stab at it, I'll say you because of how much this does not even come close to who I am. Oh man, Okay, I gotta tell a really quick story. Oh yeah, for sure. So I went to Whole Foods and I was going to make some vegetarian chili once. Well, then I already know it, you because I don't cook it all. So I bought all of these You know how much Whole Foods is, all these high priced ingredients. Sixty dollars worth of ingredients. I got the garlic. Everything. I get home and I'm chopping up the garlic, and I'm feeling so nauseous. I couldn't even finish cutting it. I had to take all of the ingredients, put them in a garbage bag, take the garbage bag outside, and put it in the garbage can. I was so nauseous. So I got to work, and there's a lady who was Italian, and she said yeah, so what could have gone wrong? And she said, name the ingredients. So I said, yeah, I put you know this in I got the tomatoes, I got the garlic. She said, well, how much garlic did you put in it? I said four? She said four clothes or four bulbs? I don't know. Four. She's like, you put four whole garlics in there. That's what the issue was. It was, and I was just dumping tons of garlic in there. It was bad. The smell didn't leave our house for like a week. It was bad. Yeah, so maybe that first one is me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well I don't. I don't cook at all. Liz. Liz does everything, even the grilling. Oh man, yeah, she does the grilling. She loves it. I know. That's pretty wild. All the all the men are like boom, all right, you want to give a shot at the next. Time, who's most likely to adopt a pet rock and name it something ridiculously elaborate. I'm going to say that might be you. That's definitely me. That is definitely my personality. In fact, in fact, if you rewind all the way back to when pet rocks were actually a thing, I might have actually done that. Oh wow, yeah, I think I've actually done that. Yeah, that is funny. Rocks were actually we used to collect rocks, mess around with rocks, all these kind of things. It was a thing. All right, Here you go. Who's most likely to use a ridiculous accent during a serious conversation just to lighten the mood. I'm going to say, that's a you' this. I've done this. Yeah, that's a sitcom movie. Right, you expect like Michael Scott to do it in a really really awkward situation like this is that's I would definitely do that. That's pretty good. Who's most likely to spend an entire week in binge watching a TV series? Well? Dress it's their favorite character, does are I don't know where she comes up with these? I don't know, I don't know, but these are all goofy. Yeah, I gotta be honest. I don't think I would ever stay an entire weekend dressed as a character. You're dressed as the character. The question is what about binge watching? Oh, definitely binge watching. So here's the thing with me. I'm not a big TV series person. No, no, so so yeah I don't I wouldn't binge watch too unless it was history. I'm a boring person. I love history. Okay, well yeah that is kind of boring. Yeah yeah, but so yeah, I guess it'd be me. Although I have dressed up as a character watching a movie before. Okay, yeah, I've done that, and. I mean I get it when it's like, you know, how the new Star Wars would come out and everyone dresses as you know, whatever the the battle peep. I'm not a star person. Yeah. We actually had a marathon of watching Marvel movies. Okay, yeah, and we all dressed up as our favorite Marvel characters. I've seen that in theaters where the new movie comes out. People have done that. This was at a party, okay, binge watching party, and so I've done that before. So let's kind that I've sort of done this. So that's hilarious. Okay. Last one. Last one is who's most likely to accidentally join the wrong Zoom meeting and give an impromptu presentation on why ducks are underrated. I don't even know what to say for that one. Yeah, So would you ever do this? That's the question. Yeah. I have gone into the wrong Zoom meeting before, Okay, but I've never given impromptu presentation of why ducks are underrated? But would you ever do something like that? Would you ever do like like, oh, this would be hilarious. I'm just gonna I'm just going to try to be serious. Have you done that? I don't know. I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think I've ever done it on a Zoom meeting. But I have done stuff like this all the time, Like I've I've done just crazy stuff in public. You know what's strangers you know? In fact, let me tell you real quick. I think I've said this on the Bible guys a long time ago, but recently within like the last like five years. That's recently for me. That's by the way, that's old people talk, right. But my buddy and I and my brother and my friend we all went down to Clearwater, Florida, and just for fun. Have you ever been at a restaurant where you're eating and you're almost like halfway through your meal or more so, and then somebody comes up who's not your server, who walks up and goes, so, how is everything in your meal today? And you assume it's the manager, right, So we just did that for fun. So we literally we literally walked yes. We were just in a restaurant, like we're like, I dare you to do this? And so I'd walk up and I would just walk up to a table that they were three quarters of the way done. I would I put my finger I'd put my fingers together like a manager would do. I'd walk over and I'd say, so, how was everything in your meal today? And that would pretend like I was. The owner or they were like, oh, it's great, yes. And listen I did this like fifteen times. Not a single person question who I was. They would say, oh, it was absolutely great. I would say, can we get compliments to the chef? Yes? And then then a couple of guys would say I would say can I get anything else for you? And I'd say, okay, refill on the coke and I'd say, we'll get your server right out here to get that. And then I walk away. And my brother I'm like, go ahead, go do it. Oh no, So your brother would refill no, no, no, no no. My brother would just go to another table, Oh gotcha and try the. Same thing to say. That's next level. If you wouldn't actually got the drinks. That's that's like, that's like you're going to jail kind of right? Yeah? Maybe so, but yeah, we would do stuff like that all the time. Yeah. So, I mean I just hilariously I did this in my laid forties, right, yeah, just being a pastor just a few years ago. That is funny because you know, what. Are they going to do? Right? Are they gonna throw you in restaurant jail? I don't think so. I wondered, did a waiter or waitress ever see you doing it? And like, is do they work for us? Yeah? Well, they probably assume I just knew the couple. Ye right, Hey does this guy know every couple of a lot of people? So yeah, I guess the last one would have to be me. I guess that is. Although I've never done anything quite like. This, comes up with some great questions. Well most of these were me. I was four out of five, but probably just because they're all silly. Yeah right, and I'm sort of that way. Yeah. So yeah, that's that's pretty good funny. Yeah. Hey, well, hey listen, we're gonna jump right into First Samuel chapter nine, and today we're going to see that Saul gets annointed as king, the first king of Israel. And if you were with us on Friday, actually on Thursday, we ended really because Friday was a special five hundredth episode. Yeah, so this is the five hundred and first episode. Yeah. Uh. And so anyway, Saul was chosen as king because it was a good idea, but because God was It literally says the scripture says that God was tired of Israel's complaining and uh. And so God told Samuel, the prophet, the last judge actually of Israel. And God told Samuel and said, I'm tired of Israel always wanting a king. They don't want me as king, so we're just going to let them do everything they want because I'm tired of them continuing to ask. But I want you to tell the people what's going to happen to them. So Samuel then says, hey, if you get a king and you're ruled by king like other nations, these are the things that are going to happen to you, And he gives them all these warnings, which, by the way, all of them come into fruition, you know, more than once, I'm sure, and the Israelites, the leaders in the in the town or in the nation, I guess would would would still say, yes, we understand those things, but we still want to be like everybody else. And so Saul is about to get chosen by God, and and and and that's where we pick up today. And we're going to extend this a little Chris. We're going to go first Samuel nine fifteen through twenty seven, and Jess for context. Yep, we're going to do first Samuel chapter ten one through eight in conjunction with that, just so everyone gets a clear picture of what's happening here. So first Samuel nine fifteen says, now, the Lord had told Samuel the previous day about this time tomorrow, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, anoint him to be the leader of my people Israel. He will rescue them from the Philistines, for I have looked down on my people in mercy and have hurt their cry. When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, that's the man I told you about. He will rule my people. Just then, Saul approached Samuel at the gateway and asked, can you please tell me where the Seer's house is verse nineteen. I am the seer, Samuel said, go up to the place of worship ahead of me. We will eat there together, and in the morning, I will tell you what you want to know and send you on your way. And don't worry about those donkeys that were lost three days ago, for they have been found. And I am here to tell you that you and your family are the focus of all israel hopes of Israel's hopes Verse twenty one. Saul replied, but I'm only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families in that tribe. Why are you talking like this to me? Verse twenty two. Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall and placed them at the head of the table, honoring them above the thirty special guests. Samuel then instructed the cook to bring us Saul the finest cut of meat, the piece that had been set aside for the guest of honor. So the cook brought in the meat and placed it before Saul. Go ahead and eat it, Samuel said, I was saving it for you even before I invited these others. So Saul ate with Samuel that day when they came down from the place of worship and returned to town. Samuel took Saul up to the roof of the house and prepared a bed for him there. At daybreak the next morning, Samuel called to Saul, get up, it's time for you. It's time you were on your way. So Saul got ready and he and Samuel left the house together. When they reached the edge of town, Samuel told Saul to send his servant on ahead. After the servant was gone, Samuel said, stay here, for I have received a special message for you from God. Now we pick up here for Samuel ten one through eight, it says. Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over Saul's head. He kissed Saul and said, I am doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession. When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel's tomb at Zelza on the border of Benja. They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father has stopped worrying about them and is now worried about you. He is asking have you seen my son? When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at Bethel. One will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a wine skin full of wine. They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept. When you arride at Gibea of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship. They will be playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a leer, and they will be prophesying verse six. At that time, the spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person after these signs take place. Do so what must be done for God is with you. Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me. I would join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. You must wait for seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions. Wow. So there it is the story of Saul getting annoyed, the very first king of all of Israel. I love how it says he describes Israel and says it's God's prize possession. Yeah, and back then, of course we know that Israel are, you know, God's chosen people. And what's so great about that is is that we know that when Jesus Christ, you know, since then, of course Jesus Christ has come, he died on the cross for all of our sins. And then Jesus then says that, you know, his sacrifice is not just for the Jewish people, but for everybody. Right, and then the New Testament calls us his prize possessions. Right, Ephesians calls us God's masterpiece. Right, So we now are the prize possessions. Yeah, which is pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Another point that I see in here in verse twenty one. And I love this because a lot of people deal with this personally. Verse twenty one, says Saul replied, but I'm only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families in that tribe. And this is funny to me. Why are you talking like this to me? So I think that's so funny, how he's looking down upon himself and looking down upon his humble beginnings. But God can use you with your humble beginnings to do amazing things. Yeah, that's what I think a lot of times people like to discount where they are, or discount their experiences, or discount where they come from. But God can use all of those things to do amazing things. Yeah. And I think that people feel that way not only based on things out of their control, yeah, but also things that were in their control, like, for instance, like past mistakes. Yeah. Right, So we sometimes disqualify ourselves and deem our ourselves as unworthy. And yes, there there are consequences of sin uh you know, and mistakes in our lives. We wreak havoc, we destroy relationships, right, we gain bad reputations. Right, we have to you know, serve our way back in and prove our faithfulness in some areas to either family members or you know, maybe leadership positions. And you know, those things are definitely true. But in terms of worthiness, in terms of you know, being worthy to you know, minister, being worthy to bless others, being worthy to you know, teach the word you know, or deliver the word of God or share the word of God. You know. I think that oftentimes we disqualify ourselves because of our sin, you know, and I and I and I get we have to be faithful in order to hold a spiritual leadership position. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about every Christian is blessed with you know, the New Testament calls us we're the priesthood of believers, right. You know, it's so funny. Didn't you grow up in the church and you've probably even a part of a church where the pastor was expected to do everything. Yeah, that's how it was. The pastor. You were expected to be the counselor. You were expected to do the weddings, the funerals, to the do the hospital visits, to like everything. You were like the one man show. Right right. And yet it's pretty clear and Ephesians as well that that it says that, you know, he God gifts those different types of people to fulfill those leadership roles. Right. So he says to some, he gave the gift to be the apostles, to some, he gave the gift of profits, to some, he gave the gift of evangelists, and some pastors and some teachers, and everybody is a different role to play. And all that all that to say, you know, uh, kind of, I'm kind of getting off on a little bit of a tangent here. That's a good, good angle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, you know, there's not one pastor that can fulfill all those things, which is why number one pastors get burnt out. And I was just going to say that that's why a lot of pastors are burnt out because you're trying to be super man and in God. According to the New Testament, when you look at the early Church and like the job responsibility of a pastor, it was not to be superman and do everything. And we see that in different areas in the New Testament. Yeah, and it's in the reality is that nobody's gifted at all those things, which is why you know, right now you are as a listener, you know a pastor who's incredibly gifted at counseling, but he's a horrible speaker, right, and you're like, get that guy off the platform, get him out of the pulpe. But man, is he a great guy, And man does he have a lot of wisdom counseling because that's his gift. Yes, he has the pastor gift, right. And then there's some guys who they're great at teaching, but they're actually really really poor at leadership, right, because you can't find somebody. So whatever you're gifted at as a leader, you have to surround yourself with others. Now, that's the flip side of really the heart of the scripture. The heart of the scripture is is that what I'm trying to say is that don't disqualify yourself from me a minister, because you are gifted as a minister, and God never intended you know, the pastor or the leader, or the chosen one to lead in every capacity. You do not disqualify yourself because in the New Testament, we are the priesthood of every believer. And so here's the reality. My title is pastor, but actually I would say a third of my church are actually better pastors than me, right, because the gift of pastor is counseling, it is one on one, It is shepherding, it is carrying, And that's actually my least of all five of those gifts, that's the least gift. So Saul is disqualifying himself. But actually, you know you've been gifted by the not because you're you know, you're great in and of yourself because God has gifted you, which is why it says the spirit came upon him and you will become a different person right. Now, even from a slightly different angle. Chris, what about the because of their past sins they feel that they have to try to get right before coming back to God. Because I've heard that before where there's someone and I'll give you analogy. They're kind of saying, like, I know my car is dirty, so before I go to the car wash, I'm going to try to wash my car at home then take it to the car wash so it can get clean. You have a lot of people who feel like that they won't step foot in a church right because they feel like, I've got to get my life right first. No, you don't try to get your life right first then go to Jesus. You come in conjunction with Jesus to get your life right. A church is both I've heard this analogy. Church is both a hospital and it's also a health club. Yeah, right, So it's a hospital for those who are in desperate need of er and surgeries and everything else, heart transplants, the whole works. But it's also a health club for those people who want to continue to work on their spiritual health, right, So it could be for the Christian who's working on their faith journey. But it's definitely, definitely, definitely. You know, it's very clear in the scriptures it's a hospital. So if you're in desperate need, you have to understand it's not just for Christians. It's for those who need Christ, which, by the way, are both non Christians and Christians. Yeah, right, we all need Christ. So it's just different parts of our journey. So yeah, it's crazy to think that if I walk through the doors of a church, it'll cave in, lightning will strike me, right, because that's not true at all, is it. We did a message series kind of related to that at the church that we both go to years ago, where we did a playoff of that, and it started off very serious. It was a bumper video like the roll in. Yeah, it was very serious. You had someone sitting on the couch at home and saying, you know what today is going to be my day. I'm going back to church and it's very somber music and you see the person getting in the car. They drive up to the church. The camera is following them as they walk into the church and right when they got into the center of the lobby. A lightning bolt we edited it it in that struck them, and then there was a pile of dust on the floor and we started playing another one bites the Dust. Oh, that's great. And we were just playing with the idea that that's what people think is going to happen, and really God is waiting with open arms, waiting for you to run back to him. He's not angry. He's like the father with the prodigal son. He's waiting with open arms to welcome you back and take you as his own. So, yeah, we just kind of played around with that a little bit. Yeah, God is an amry at you, He's just waiting for you to come back. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, so you know, we definitely covered that aspect. Saul annoyance excuse me, Samuel annoyance. Saul not only does he learn the lesson that hey, it doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter what you've done, I've God has chosen you. Of course, he gets empowered by the whole spirit, he does miraculous things, he begins to prophesy. At least that's what same as suff is going to happen. And of course it does happen. And then you know, we have to realize today when we except Christ, we're filled with Holy spirit. So we're gifted beyond our means that God has placed within us the spiritual gift to serve him and the further the Kingdom, and He's chosen us for great things to be a part of it. And then I would just say, just the other sermon that's probably hidden in this passages is that don't ever underestimate how God wants to use you. Right, So little did Saul know that his entire future was destined to do great things. And of course Saul does struggle, right, He often disobeys God, he often strays. He's not definitely not a perfect person like us, like us, right, but he definitely is used in a way that was well beyond his imagination, right, well beyond anything he could have asked or dream or even dared hope for. And which is a great sermon for us because because don't ever feel like God has done with you yet, regardless of your age, and don't ever underestimate how God can use you to make a difference in his kingdom. Awesome, all right, Yeah, we could keep going with this all day this is. It is a good section, but that is definitely our time. So hey, we'll hopefully see you next time as we continue the story on the Bible. Guys,