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Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your, take your Mountain Baptist song books and turn to song number 50. Song number 50 in your Mountain Baptist Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Song Books. If you would stand, we'll sing, What Child is This? Song number 50, What child is this who lain to rest on Mary's lap is sleeping, whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping. This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing. Haste, haste to bring him love, the babe, the son of Mary. Why lies he in such mean a state where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christian, fear for sinners, hear the silent word is pleading. Now spear shall pierce him through the cross he bore for me, for you. Hail, hail the word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary. So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh, peasant king to own him. The king of kings, salvation brings the loving heart into him. Raise, raise the song on high, the virgin sing her lullaby. Joy, joy for Christ is born, the babe, the son of Mary. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we just want to thank you, God, for another day that we get to come to your house and to hear you were preached. I pray, Lord, now that you would just be honored and glorified out of everything we say and do. We love you for it's in Jesus name we ask all, but amen. All right, you may be seated and in your Mountain Baptist song books, turn to page number seven. Song number seven, we'll sing Psalm 117. Song number seven. Oh praise the Lord all ye nations, praise him all ye people, for his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endure forever. Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord. Well, amen. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. Just some announcements here before we get started, or I guess we've already started. But as far as service times this Sunday, everything should be normal. And so be in your places there. We'll have our soul winning time at 1 p.m. We do have the soul winning marathon coming up this Saturday. So get with brother Matt if you haven't already, as far as if you have any questions there, if you want to go out to that. And then as far as the prayer meetings, we do have the women's prayer meeting on the 22nd and the men's prayer meeting on the 29th, and then the regional soul winning times there as well. I'm sure with Christmas and stuff coming up, I'm sure some of these regional soul winning times might change. I know Christmas is on a Monday, so I'm probably guessing that one might get shifted around there. So I don't want to speak for brother Charles, but you know. So that being said, obviously a lot of this stuff may be malleable, but at the same time, on Christmas Eve, our service times are going to be normal. We're going to have soul winning time and normal time. Obviously, if you have stuff going on, you want to go soul winning at a different time, more than welcome to, and maybe that's something where everybody's like, hey, I'd rather go on Saturday. I'm not against it. But we're just going to just tentatively, we're going to have our time on Sunday, and if you want to go out at that time, you're welcome to go out with us. But yeah, so that being said, everything's going to be normal there. And then we have our memory chapter for the month, Luke chapter two. And so be memorizing that, especially that first portion there, we have the Christmas story. And then Isaiah 9-6 is our memory verse for the week. We have all that. And then the pregnancy list there being prayer for Alyssa, Anastasia, and Tabby. So we're getting closer to their due dates as we're mid-December now. And I think that's pretty much all I have for announcements that I can think of. Offering boxes in the back there, if you want to get a tie, they're an offering. The mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. I think, brother Anthony, you're reading tonight, right? So we're going to continue our study through the book of 1 Samuel. So brother Anthony is going to be reading 1 Samuel chapter 16. After brother Dave does 1 more Psalm. All right. Take your Psalm books and turn to Psalm 424. Psalm 424. We'll sing, Oh, come all ye faithful. Song 424. Oh, come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him, born the King of angels. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Sing choirs of angels, sing in exaltation. Oh, sing all ye bright hosts above. Glory to God, all glory in the highest. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning. Jesus, to thee be all glory given. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him, Christ the Lord. All right, if you would take your Bibles and turn to the book of 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16 in your Bibles, and we'll have brother Anthony read that for us. 1 Samuel 16, Bible reads, And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do, and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said peaceably, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord, sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by, and he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Hear all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servant said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp. And it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shall be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning and playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand. So Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your word, and thank you for this night. We can gather, continue to learn from it. Pray it should be Pastor Robinson filled with your Holy Spirit, and help us all to be edified. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in 1 Samuel chapter 16, and chapter 15 obviously was the chapter where Saul is rejected from being king. So if you remember in chapter 13, he does a sacrifice before Samuel gets there, and all that. And his kingdom is no longer going to go on forever. Basically, his kingdom will end with him. But then in chapter 15, if you remember, he doesn't take out all the Amalekites, and then he's just really stubborn, really, about the fact that he thinks he's kept the commandments, and it really comes down to the end, that he has to basically be told that he's rejected from being king, to where he finally fesses up to not doing what he should have done. And so that's where we're coming out of there, is at chapter 15, where Saul is being rejected, or he's been rejected from being king. And in verse 1 here of chapter 16, notice what the Lord says to Samuel. And the Lord said to Samuel, how long wilt thou mourn for Saul? So basically, Samuel is mourning, and that's the last verse of chapter 15 there in verse 35. It says that Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. And in chapter 1 here, or verse 1 here, I'm sorry, he states, how long are you gonna mourn for Saul? Seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel, fill thine horn with oil and go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. So the first thing that I see here is that, that obviously Samuel is a great prophet. The Bible, it speaks really highly of Samuel, and puts him in the midst of like Noah, or I'm sorry, Moses and other prophets like that. He's mentioned in the New Testament as far as being a great prophet. But he's obviously mourning for Saul to a point where God is basically having to tell him to stop. Like basically, I stopped mourning for him, I've rejected him, you know. And it makes me think of this verse, and this is honestly one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It's hard to have like a favorite verse, but if I had like a life verse, if I had like, you know, a passage that I'm just like, this describes what I want to be about, or this is how I'm going to get through life, if you will, is Philippians 3, 13, where it says, rather than I count not myself to vaporkhenna, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Is this idea of basically, God doesn't want to just wallow in grief, and just be like mourning over the past. And he's kind of stating that here. He's just like, I've rejected him. It's kind of like, in other words, like I've rejected him, get over it, and now we got work to do, right? Move forward. And I think this is something that any Christian can get into this state of sorrow or mourning, or just dwelling on the past, and just letting that bring you down. Instead, just forget about it and move on. And especially if, let's say it was a sin of the past or something like that. The Bible talks about the fact that he's not gonna, our sins and iniquities who remember no more. And the idea that when we confess them to the Lord, he's forgetting about it. We should forget about it. And not just be basically weeping and wallowing in sorrow on the past, okay? But also think about the fact that the matter is, the future is actually better here. I mean, think about, he's going from Saul, they're going to David. And sometimes when you're just weeping and you're just kind of like in this depression mode as far as what the past, what's happened in the past, is that what's right in front of you is about to happen is gonna be way better than what you had in the past. And the idea here is that David is better than Saul. And obviously, this is a great example of the Old Testament and New Testament and the fact that we have the better covenant and all of that. But I think about this, when I think about Christians weeping and wailing for like Israel and like for the past. Literally, there'll be Christians that are weeping and wailing at the wailing wall in Jerusalem. And what are you wailing over? What, and I'm not saying you. I'm like looking at Paul, what are you wailing over over there? You know, she's over there in Jerusalem wailing over the Jews, losing their temple. But if you think about this, right, they're wailing over something God destroyed. God's the one that destroyed. I mean, I know Titus, the emperor of Rome, is the one that technically destroyed it. But wouldn't you say that God destroyed Jerusalem with the Babylonians? Well, he did the same thing with the Romans and Jesus was even stating that that was gonna be the case, that there's not gonna be one stone left upon another. And by the way, that wall was not of the temple or anything like that because Jesus said not one stone was gonna be left upon another. So they're literally just like wailing against this like Roman wall or whatever. But that being said is that it's really silly when you think about the fact that you're wailing over this Old Testament thing that was a picture of the true. Let's say you were to even say it was some kind of like actual representation of the Old Testament temple or something like that. But if you're thinking that, why are you wailing over that when we have the true, right? When we have Jesus, think about this. You're thinking about like an old kingdom of like kings and all of that stuff. You think about Saul obviously being rejected, but you got David. David's being, in this chapter, this chapter is David being anointed to be king. And go to Revelation chapter five. Revelation chapter five. Jesus in the New Testament is sitting on the throne. He is the king of kings and Lord of lords. He is sitting on the throne of his father David because obviously he's 100% man and he's of the seed of David according to the flesh. And that is something that instead of wailing there in front of the wall and just like weeping over what Jerusalem used to look like and what Israel used to be, you should be saying, I'm forgetting about that. I'm not gonna mourn over that because I had this over here. And Christians are just, by and large, there's this Zionist movement out there where Christians are just weeping and wailing over the past. It's like they rejected Christ 2,000 years ago and that city was destroyed 2,000 years ago. Get over it. How long is it gonna be before you stop wailing for that old nation of Israel? The kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Get over it. And obviously not every Christian is a Zionist and all that stuff. But this goes out to the Zionists that, hey, instead of weeping and wailing over the past as far as what's happened or why they got destroyed or whatever, look what we have. We have something much better. And so in Revelation chapter five, verse one, I see something here that's kind of, it's not the same, but at the same time, it's kind of this idea of weeping, but then just automatically be like, I don't need to weep. I don't have a reason to weep. Because notice what it says here in verse one. It says, and I saw on the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much. So John is basically like, no one's worthy to open this book or to take it or anything like that. And he wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Jesus is on the throne. He is of the loins of David, of the seed of David, sitting upon the throne of God. And he is our king. That is our kingdom. It's kind of like you're weeping and wailing over this desolate place that God destroyed. Stop. How long are you gonna mourn for that? How long? Apparently 2,000 years. Apparently 2,000 years, there's still people mourning and weeping and wailing over that. And in Luke 1, dealing with the Christmas story, just to show you where it literally states that Jesus is gonna be sitting on the throne of David, is in Luke 1, 31. Luke 1, 31, it says, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. You know, throughout the Bible, you know, this is where the, obviously the Zionists get off track. They're like, well, that, there's always gonna be someone sitting on the throne of David. Guess what? There is. When Jesus rose from the dead, you know what he did? He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. There's no one that's gonna be after him, by the way. There's no king coming up that's gonna be after him. He's sitting there forever. He's gonna rule and reign for a thousand years, yay for all eternity, and yet people are just weeping and wailing over this wall, over Jerusalem being destroyed. Nuts to that place. Jerusalem is in bondage with their children. That's Mount Sinai, that's Hagar. Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us all. And you know what? We look for a city whose builder and maker is God. We're not looking at some physical city. And this obviously would apply to the physical, to the spiritual, and the idea of like, why are you weeping and wailing about things that are physical here, physical possessions? Think about those things that are in heaven, and put your affection toward those things which are above. So go to 1 Samuel chapter 16. So that's the first thing I see here, is that Samuel's kind of mourning, and here's a case where God's basically like, stop mourning, right? And there's cases like in Revelation chapter five, where someone's weeping is like, stop, why are you weeping? No need to. There's no need to weep, because this is done, this is what's in front of you. This is behind, this is moving forward. And as Christians, sometimes we need, there's a time to mourn. There's a time to obviously, I'm not saying there's not a time to be, for example, to be sorry for your sins, and to come to the Lord, and ask for forgiveness and all that. Obviously that's true. But listen, once that's done, it's done. Just forget about it, move on. God's not asking us to just dwell on it, and just let it just destroy us spiritually for the rest of our lives. But in 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse two here, so basically he calls for, he gets a horn of oil, and God is telling him to send for Jesse the Bethlehemite, and he doesn't tell him who it is, he doesn't say it's David, he just says it's gonna be of the sons of Jesse. But notice in verse two, and this is valid, I mean you can understand where Samuel's coming from, right? Where he says, and Samuel said, how can I go if Saul hear it, he will kill me, right? I mean think about it, Saul's king, and you're like, hey, I'm gonna go take this horn of oil, I'm gonna go anoint someone to be king, right? Like you can understand, Samuel was saying like, how am I supposed to do this? He's gonna kill me if I do this, right? And in verse, keep reading there, he says, and the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. So basically he's like, basically just say, you're going to do a sacrifice to the Lord. And he's not lying, right? He's just like, I'm gonna go do a sacrifice. He didn't say, I'm gonna go do a sacrifice, and I'm not gonna anoint anybody king. It's not like, you know, letting the cat out of the bag, or anything like that. Verse three, it says, And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do, and thou shalt anoint unto me, him whom I name unto thee. And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, comest thou peaceably? And he said, peaceably. Now the thing that I just kind of noticed here, is just the reverence, and the fear that they had for Samuel. Now think about this. This is, Samuel's old at this point, but he just killed Agag, you know, like he just, like cut him in pieces in the last chapter, right? So I mean, this old man is still, he can still do something, right? But the idea is that, just that the gravity of that prophet, right, is that he comes into town, they're just like, what do we do? You know, like are you going to destroy us? Like what's going on, right? The respect that they had for Samuel, even in his old age. And you know what? That's why I really like Samuel. Samuel was one of those guys that just, he did what he was supposed to do to the very end, and just stuck to his guns, and that, just that that reverence that's there. When it comes to that. And so, I just think about that when I think about, you know, when people come in, just how do people perceive them, right? How do people like treat them? And Samuel was very respected by the people. And so, it says, and he said peaceably, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord, sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. So, he's basically calling the sacrifice, bringing them to it. Now this is, if you think about it, this is kind of similar to Saul, and how he was anointed, right? Because if you remember, there was like this sacrifice being done, and Saul was trying to find the lost asses in the wilderness, and all of that. But basically, they were coming to talk to Samuel, and find out if he knew where they were at, or you know, basically then there's a sacrifice, and then he tells them that he's gonna be king. So, it's kind of similar to that, but the thing that I want to point out here, and just something that the details here, that you see, is where are they at? Where did they go? Like what town are they in? Bethlehem, right? This is pertinent, since we're dealing with Christmas. But when you're in Luke, for example, in Luke chapter two, it says in Luke 2 four, and Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, under the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. So, when you read that in the New Testament, you're just like, okay, that's fact, but if you read through the Old Testament, you know, yeah, I mean that's where David was when he was anointed king, but also just looking back at his lineage, as far as where his father was from, and where his grandfather was from, and where his great grandfather was from, go to Ruth chapter four, just to show you that Bethlehem is that place, and also dealing with the region of Ephrata. So, Ephrata, Bethlehem, and that's important because of the prophecy of where Jesus is going to come from, okay? And so, it's all consistent, obviously, with what the Old Testament says, but in Ruth four, in verse 11, it says, and all the people that were in the gate, and elders said, we are witnesses, the Lord make the woman that has come into thine house, like Rachel, and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem. So, we're talking about, obviously, the story of Ruth and Boaz, and Boaz is redeeming, you know, basically, Ruth there, and obviously, the land and everything of her husband, and it says, and let thy house be like the house of Pheraz, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So, obviously, talking about Judah, because that's the lineage of Boaz, and it's going to show you here, because Pheraz comes from, because you remember Zara and Pheraz, and they were twins, and the story there with Tamar and Judah, and if you look at verse 18 there, it says, now these are the generations of Pheraz, begat Ezron, and Ezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amenadab, and Amenadab begat Nashon, and Nashon begat Solomon, and Solomon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. So, we see the lineage of David, and where is it at? Ephrata, Bethlehem Ephrata, which goes to the big prophecy, dealing with where Jesus was going to come. Now, there's obviously other places where it says he's going to be as the seed of David, where he's going to sit on the throne of David, and all of these different things, but specifically, he was going to be born in Bethlehem. Okay, so where David was from, because it says in Micah 5, too, it says, but thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And obviously, we see this mentioned in Matthew chapter 2, dealing with Jesus coming and his birth. And so, these things are good things to know when you're reading through the Old Testament, that when you're in the New Testament, you're like Bethlehem, yeah, I mean, that's where David was anointed king, that's where Boaz and Ruth were at, that's their lineage. Obviously, the first chapter in the New Testament is Matthew 1, where you have this lineage going down to Joseph, and you see Boaz, and Ruth's mentioned, and you go down the line in that. And so, that being said, the Bible also says in John chapter 7, this is something that people stumbled with, as far as they knew the scripture said he was going to be born of Bethlehem, because it says others said, and so in John chapter 7, verse 41, others said, this is the Christ, but some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So the scripture's saying he's of the seed of David, he's going to come out loins of David, but then also, the fact that he's going to come out of Bethlehem, and they're asking the wrong question, because they're asking, isn't Christ supposed to come out of Bethlehem? That's not the right question. The question is, did Jesus come out of Bethlehem? Because they're assuming that he was born in Galilee, because he grew up in Nazareth. Now we know the story, right? Because we have the Bible, so in Luke chapter 2, we know that he was born in Bethlehem, but then they had to flee to Egypt, when they were coming back, then the angel told them, basically, they went back into Galilee to Nazareth, so that's where originally Joseph was at anyway, and so they just went back to Nazareth, that's where he grew up, was in Nazareth, but he was born in Bethlehem. So I always find that interesting when you read that, and you're just, they're like, well, shouldn't he come out of Bethlehem? It's like, well, the question you should ask is, did he? Right? And the truth of the matter is, they did. You ever see those things where people will say something, and they're like, well, shouldn't it be this way? And you're like, it is. Right? They're like, they're like, well, shouldn't it? They're like, yeah, it should, and it is, right? And it's like, they don't realize what's going on there. So, going back to 1 Samuel chapter 16, 1 Samuel chapter 16 and verse 6, so, he's calling, he's basically making this, the sacrifice, and he's calling all of Jesse's sons, Jesse and his sons, and it says in verse 6 here, it says, and it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. So he just looks at the firstborn, so Eliab is the firstborn, and he looks at him, and says, this is surely him. But what does God have to say about that? It says, but the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. So obviously, he probably looked like a valiant guy, you know, probably strong, tall, everything, right? But it says, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And this is obviously something that's brought up in the New Testament a lot as well, in the idea that someone could look on the outside, like, hey, that would be a good leader. That's someone, and you think about, Saul kind of had that, right? Saul was head and shoulders above everybody. So if you think about, like, who God picked to begin with, on the outward, you know, outward looking, you're like, well, that's the guy, right? Because you picked Saul, and he was head and shoulders above everybody, then it's got to be this guy. And, but God's looking at the heart. And when you think about this, if you're thinking about the Old Testament and New Testament correlation here, of Saul and David, and the idea that you kind of have the physical with the spiritual, right? You have the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, right? You have the fact that the law condemns, right? The Old Testament, it condemns. The New Testament, you're made alive, right? It's the idea of the spiritual, compared to the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life, right? The idea there is that the outward appearance of Saul looks like what you want, right? But it's not about that. It's about what's inwardly. Now, David ends up being a valiant man too. It's not like he's, you know, some weakling or something like that. But at the same time, it's about the heart. God cares about the heart. And this is something that's taught throughout the New Testament. Go to, go to John chapter seven, John chapter seven, John chapter seven and verse 24. Did you know people are like, judge not, judge not, judge not. You know, it's like parroting Matthew seven, but yet not reading any further than, judge not that you be not judged. The Bible says many times for us to judge. Actually, in 1 Corinthians, Paul is rebuking the church at Corinth for not judging. So, you got to think things by context. So, judge not if you're, don't judge somebody on being an alcoholic if you're one. Right? It's like, take the beam out of your own eye. Right? Someone's drinking a little bit and then you're an alcoholic. It's like, yeah, you're not the man to be making that judgment there. You're not the one to be pointing that one out. Right? So, don't be a hypocrite in judgment. But, also, notice what it says in verse 24. So, Matthew seven verse 24, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. And so, when it comes to making a judgment, obviously, there's things that can appear, that maybe appears that way, but maybe it's not actually that way. Think about it. I mean, worship is abstained from all appearance of evil, but just because it appears evil doesn't mean it is. Right? And if you're judging something because it appears that way, but you don't know if that's actually true, then that's what it's talking, you know, you're dealing with the fact that you need to discern, if you're gonna judge something, you better discern whether that's not just on the surface level, or that's actually true, if that's actually there. Right? And, but there are cases where the outward appearance is gonna deceive you. Okay? That can be true for, let's say, someone that maybe looks a little rough on the outside. Right? I mean, I've run into people out soul winning, where on the outside, they look like they're like some gang member murderer, and they may be, for all I know, but when you talk to them, they're like the nicest person you've ever met, and they end up being saved, you're like, whoa, you know, that's not what I expected. From the outward appearance, that doesn't look like that's what I would get. Right? But then you have the opposite, where someone on the outside looks really good. Right? I mean, just imagine, you run into somebody, they're wearing like a shirt and a tie, Duluth pants, and you're like, that guy must be a stud, you know, that guy must be like a really good guy, you know. There's, that could be deceiving, you know, because, I'm joking, but at the same time, there's outward appearance, you know, where they look clean, they look like they're righteous, you know, they look good on the outside, and Jesus warns of this. So Matthew chapter 23 and verse 27, Matthew chapter 23 and verse 27, actually I forget who told, who asked me when we had that white elephant, they were really surprised we didn't have Duluth gift cards, and I'm actually really surprised about that too. Are we slipping? Have we gotten liberal here? So no Duluth gift cards? Anyway, in Matthew chapter 23 and verse 27, it says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres. Which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. So he uses a physical analogy, right? He's basically saying, you're like a tomb, right? A sepulcher is a tomb, right? And it looks pretty on the outside, right? It's painted white, it looks good, but inside it's full of rotting flesh, right? It's full of like dead men's bones. It's like, it's nothing good inside there, right? And the same thing, he's basically equating that with, you look righteous on the outside, but inside you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity, right? So what's on the outside is completely opposite with what's on the inside. Think about this with, spiritually speaking, with the Jews, for example. In Roman chapter 2 and verse 28, it says, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he is the Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. And that really, you get that idea of the letter, the spirit, right? The, you know, the Old Testament is the letter, right? It's, it condemns, the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. And obviously, you can see that with David and the idea that, yes, Saul and the outward look good, but the problem was, is the heart. The heart was, is that he was stubborn, he was rebellious, and inwardly, it wasn't good, right? But David, on the other hand, may not on the outside, look like this like valiant guy, that's gonna take the bull by the horns, but inwardly, the heart is there, and that's what God is looking for. So, so basically, a lie ab, it says that he's refused him, verse 8 here, so going back to verse, Samuel chapter 16, he's bringing other sons before him. Verse 8, it says, Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by, and he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep, and Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. This is very similar to with Saul, right? And the fact that basically everything was made for him, and it was this feast for him, and they wouldn't eat until he was there, all of that, right? But basically, all the sons go before him, none of them are chosen. David comes in, okay? It says, And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to, and the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now we see here that actually in chapter 17 here, it makes sense that he had seven sons pass before him. David was the last one in verse 17, or I'm sorry, chapter 17 verse 12 it says, Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons, and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. So we see that that makes sense, and that David was the youngest of them, and he is a man of God's own heart. Now what I want to talk about is just David here for a second, because remember he was saying that he doesn't look on the outward appearance, he looks on the heart. Now and go to the first statement, because every time Saul makes a mistake to where basically something's getting taken away from him, there's something said about David, right, as far as who's going to replace him. And I think one, this shows you too, that when God is taking one thing away, he's putting something else in, right? But notice what it says here in 1 Samuel 13 verse 14. So 1 Samuel 13 verse 14. 1 Samuel 13 verse 14 it says, But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. Now at this point, obviously, David hasn't been anointed yet, but remember that he's speaking of those things which be not as though they were, and to God, David was going to be king, nothing was going to change that, that was going to happen, right? But we see here he sought him a man after his own heart. And also in chapter 15 verse 28, when he rejects Saul from being king, so in chapter 13 he's saying, your kingdom's not going to continue, right? It's basically like, it's not going to go on, it's not going to be this forever kingdom, it could have been, but you messed it up, right? But then in chapter 15 is where he's being rejected outright from being king. Verse 28, and Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. So he's a man after God's own heart, or the Lord's own heart, but he's also better than Saul. So go to Acts chapter 13 just to show you a place where it's talking about the same thing dealing with David. And the big thing that I see here is that he's a man after God's own heart. God's looking on the heart, and David's heart, he's liking it unto his own. And think about this, David is definitely a picture of the Lord Jesus, and the idea of how that makes sense. When you think about the coming of the Lord Jesus, I mean, who could have more of the heart of God than the Son of God, right? You know, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. I mean, who knows the heart and desire and will of God more than the Son of God himself? And so obviously that applies to Jesus, but also this can apply to us, meaning that we can have the heart of God. And David has that heart, and notice what it says here in Acts chapter 13 verse 21. It says, And afterward they desired a king, and God gave unto them Saul the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto him David to be their king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior Jesus. I mean, David, this is the first time we're hearing about David, besides if you want to count Ruth, where obviously it's given the genealogy of David, but David is a magnificent character in the Bible, someone that's mentioned. I mean, even if you go all the way to the last chapter in the Bible, David's mentioned, because it says that Jesus is the root and the offspring of David. So, I mean, if you're going to know any character in the Bible, David's probably a good character to know, as far as to understand the coming of Christ and a lot of the pictures that go with, you know, when it talks about how Jesus showed his disciples, you know, all the scriptures about himself. David is a good, I mean, if you're like, well, who pictures Christ? You know, David is definitely in that picture. Okay. Obviously, there's other characters that picture Christ, Joseph and other people as well. But we see here that that is the reason that David is picked. It's not about his outward appearance. And the outward appearance, it says that he was ruddy and with all a beautiful countenance. So he was a good-looking young guy, I guess. But the idea is that it says he was ruddy. And I kind of just want to talk about that term ruddy. Basically, if you just looked up a dictionary term of that, it just basically means like you look, basically, you have a fresh or healthy red color to yourself. Okay. And I believe this is talking about the skin, it's talking about, because I remember someone saying like, oh, this, we know David is a redhead. We know that's not true because he has a soul. No, but I've heard people say that, you know, like, I don't believe this is talking about the hair. I'm not saying he wasn't a redhead. But I'm just saying that this isn't proof of that. But there's actually passages where ruddy is used as well. And so go to Lamentations, chapter four. Lamentations, chapter four. So, but in Song of Solomon, for example, Song of Solomon 5, 10 says, my beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest among 10,000. So this is the woman talking about her husband. Obviously, talking about Solomon. Now, the reason I know that ruddy isn't talking about hair, because it talks about his locks being black like a raven. So Solomon's hair is black like a raven. But it's basically saying that his skin, basically, his skin is white, but ruddy. Now, what I believe this is talking about, which Lamentations, I believe, also is going to show you what we're dealing with here. But at the same time, I believe you're dealing with how someone that's healthy, think about someone that looks healthy and someone that looks emaciated, right? If you think about it, their skin kind of looks pale. They kind of look like white, like a ghost kind of thing. Whereas if someone is healthy and everything, they kind of have this glow to them, if that makes sense. Like this kind of like, maybe their cheeks are kind of blushed out a little bit to where it's kind of got this red tint to it, if that makes sense. So that being said, I believe that's what ruddy means. And just to prove to you that it means something that's kind of like a red color. In Lamentations 4.7 here, it says, her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy and bawdy than what? Rubies. Now, I don't know if you know this, but rubies are a red color. So that being said, it kind of tells you what that means, right? They're ruddy as rubies. And basically, it's just showing you that you've probably seen like young people, like young, especially like kind of teenagers and that youthful type of look to them, where they're not as grizzled as like older men. You know what I mean? Like it's kind of like this youthful type of look. Now, I'm not going to show you because we'll get to it next week, Lord willing, but that's what the Philistine says about him. He's like ruddy and of this beautiful countenance. He's basically mocking him like this child, this young guy is coming out to me. He's like, it looks like a kid. You know what I mean? So it's the look to them, but it's this kind of like youthful, fresh, like healthy looking person. And so you can imagine that if you're looking for someone to take over as king, you're probably look, on the outward, you'd be looking at someone like, hey, I need someone that's like a man, right? I need someone that's, you know, I don't want some young kid, right? And I believe that David talks about him being a lad and the fact that he's probably like 17, 16, 17. He's probably around that age. He's the youngest of all his brothers. He's out there like tending the sheep, but even God later on in like Psalms and stuff like that, he'll talk about how he took them from the sheep cods and meaning that he's tending sheep and now he's being anointed to be king. He's a young man, but it's also, you know, in Lamentations, talks about that blessed is the man that beareth his yoke, beareth the yoke and his youth. And the idea of not waiting until you're old and grizzled until you start doing something, but actually, you know, when you're young, when you're a young man, you know, it's time to bear the yoke. So that's a side note there with the ruddy. I don't know what David's hair color was. I know he had a beard, but, you know, your guess is as good as mine, so. But anyway, so basically he's just healthy. He's young. He's a good looking guy, right? All of that. Go back to First Samuel chapter 16 and verse 14. So we see that he's anointed with oil, and I didn't really hit on this, but at the same time, kind of hit on this when we were dealing with Saul, but when he's anointed with oil, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, which really does show you what that oil represents. I mean, in the New Testament, the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and the idea of the oil representing the Holy Ghost throughout the Bible and all of that. And so that helps you definitely understand, especially some parables dealing with oil, like the 10 virgins, the oil and the lamps, all that. So the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, but at the same time, the Spirit of the Lord departs from Saul. And if you think about this, when you're dealing with the fact that how Saul would represent the Old Testament and David would represent the New Testament, is the fact that basically God is removing himself from that old and putting himself in the new. You know what I mean? Like it's not this idea of like them being there at both the same time. Can the Spirit of the Lord obviously come upon two people at the same time? Of course, right? But if you think about it, coming off Saul, going to David, because notice what it says here in verse 14. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, right? It's kind of like the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. Why? Because the anointing, right? I mean, Saul was anointed, and what happened when Saul was anointed with oil? The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, didn't it? You know what that means? That anointing was taken away from him. Obviously, this isn't talking about New Testament being indwelled with the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, they didn't have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's a big difference between Old Testament and New Testament, is that right there. But the idea here is that you can definitely see how that would represent how, hey, the Spirit of the Lord isn't on this anymore, right? The Spirit of the Lord is not on the Old Testament anymore. Why? Because it's been done away with. Because it's been, he doesn't regard it. And there's not this mixture where you don't see where the Spirit of the Lord is upon both David and Saul at the same time, do you? Now, I wouldn't use this as like my proof text to show you replacement theology, but you know what? It's interesting how it always fits though with every example that you see. It just fits perfect hand in glove with what the Bible teaches about that issue. Now, in this passage, we see that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. Now, this is interesting because, and I think some people maybe struggle with this because when they see evil, they automatically think like a devil or something like that. I don't necessarily believe this is a devil. Now, here's the thing. Satan is still going up in heaven accusing the brethren, all of that. I'm not saying it's out of the realm of possibilities that he could use. He uses anybody. The Lord can use enemies of the Lord in order to accomplish his will, okay? But evil just means harmful, right? I would say that Abaddon, Apollyon, the angel of the bottomless pit, would be considered an evil type of spirit. Obviously, angels are spirits, right? And the idea that he's harmful, okay, his name literally means destruction. So, literally, there's the destroyer, right? When you're talking about when all the first born were killed in Egypt, the destroyer is the one that did that, okay? Now, you could argue whether that's Apollyon or not, or Abaddon, but it doesn't matter. The idea here is that I believe that you're just dealing with the fact that God is sending this spirit to basically trouble him. And it doesn't necessarily have to be, it doesn't have to be a demon. It doesn't have to be a devil, right? Because God sends angels to do evil. Meaning, and what I mean by that is that not sin, because is there evil in the city and the Lord had not done it? God said he repented of the evil that he said he would do on the Nineveh. So, a lot of people are just like, you know what, there's righteousness and then there's evil. God didn't create evil. God created good and evil is the absence of good and all this stuff. It's like, that sounds cute, but that's not reality. That's not what the Bible teaches, okay? He created the light and the darkness. I know that sounds cute if you're making some kind of philosophical debate about God. Well, God is light and the absence of God is darkness. He created light and darkness. That's what the Bible says. You know, the Bible says that he does evil. Now, he doesn't do sin, but here it gets into this question. What you have to understand is that some words are broader than others. Sin is always evil, but evil isn't always sin. Meaning this is that sin is always harmful, but things that are harmful aren't always sin. So, you have to understand that. You can think about this with uncleanness, right? Uncleanness can take a big, broad scope of fornication, adultery, sodomy. Obviously, that's unclean. All these different things, right? But uncleanness can also encompass not showering, not washing your hands before you do surgery or something like that, right? Or just being unclean because you have some sickness or something like that, right? But if I said fornication, that narrows it down. And if I said adultery, that narrows it down. If I say something, it would narrow it down. You know what I'm saying? So, that's where evil is at. Evil means harmful, and obviously, this spirit was harmful to Saul. So, that being said, in verse 15, it says, And Saul's servant said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. I mean, think about that. They know it's from God. Do you ever think about that? Like, how it states that? Like, Saul's servants are saying, An evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Like, they are recognizing this. Like, this is from God. He's troubling you with this, right? Now, in verse 16, it says, Let our Lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp, and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto the servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. So, basically, his servants are like, you know, when this evil spirit comes upon you, and you know what this kind of tells me, is that this evil spirit is troubling him, and I think what it's doing is, it's basically mentally messing with him, meaning, like, it's bringing him down. And I believe what's going on here is that you're dealing with the fact that it's like, maybe if someone comes in here and plays some music, it'll just, like, get that out of your mind, get that out of there. But in verse 18, they're basically finding someone to play this harp. And in verse 18, it says, Then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning and playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. Now, when it says that he's a mighty, I believe that the mighty, valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and all this is dealing with Jesse, right? So, when you think about this, he's talking about, I found a son of Jesse, and he's basically talking about Jesse, okay? Because at this point, David is not, like, he's not going to war, even in chapter 17, he's not going to war, he's just watching after the sheep, and then he's basically going to help out his brethren. So, I personally believe that this is talking about Jesse himself, meaning he's talking about the man, Jesse, because even later on, when David kills Goliath, the thing that Saul says, whose son is this, right? And Jesse's who they're talking about there. So, I think this tells us a lot about who Jesse is, the man, their father, like David's father, as far as this is concerned here. Now, I could be wrong on that as far as how the wording goes here, but I personally believe that we're talking about Jesse when it comes to these attributes. Now, in verse 19, it says, Wherefore, Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Which does show you a lot about how music can basically, can lift you up. Obviously, there's cases where, you know, you don't want to sing, you know, basically, be belligerent, if someone's like in a state of sorrow, right? But there are, I mean, just a typical day, like let's say you're dealing with, you're just downtrodden of the world. Listen, coming in here, and hearing like hymns, and hearing uplifting songs, and worship to the Lord, that brings you up. You know, sometimes I'm like, I don't really feel like singing. Then I sing a verse, I'm like, all right, I feel a little better. And then I sing another verse, I'm like, okay, you know, and then you're just like, yes. So music does have a lot of power, when it comes to, you know, just bringing you out of being in a troubled spirit. Or maybe you're worried about something, right? You're fretting about something. You know, music a lot of times will help that. Which is why you need to be careful on what type of music you're listening to. Because some music that you think is gonna help you, actually makes it worse. You know, when I was in high school, and you know, I didn't listen to great music, just to be honest with you. You know, like I listened to like rock and roll stuff. I think I had every Metallica CD that was made. And I don't know, if you know who Metallica is, that's not a Christian band. So, and so when I was in high school, like it was like hard rock, like that type of stuff. That, you know, when I was in high school, it was like, you get mad about something, you're like, I'm gonna listen to songs, make me feel better. It's like, you're just more angry by the time you listen to it. You're like, that didn't help. That amplified it. And so what people use a lot of times for music, it's funny, because people will like, look at a song, and it's like this very depressing song. And they're like, man, I love that song. You know, I feel that song. It's like, did that make you better though? You're probably in a worse state of depression now, after you've listened to that. Because you're like, listening to you, and it's like bringing up memories, and you're just like, ah. So, you don't want to be foolish when it comes to music, as far as, let's say you're in a state of fret, or worry, or something like that. It's like, well, don't listen to a song that's gonna make you fret, and worry even more. And it's interesting on how music, that people will pick, to try to help us, help maybe a certain emotion, or something they're going through, is literally gonna make it worse. And so, you know, anyway, so it's just one of those things that, obviously, uplifting music, music that's going to basically bring you up. And listen, it doesn't even have to have words for that to happen. Okay. If you were to listen to, I'm just thinking of classical music, if you're to listen to, but let's say you're just to listen to any like him, or something like that, that we have, like most of the hymns that we have, you just had it playing on a piano, or something like that, and then you play Moonlight Sonata. There's no words, but play Moonlight Sonata, and tell me you're in a just joyous, joyous mood. There's no one that's listening to Moonlight Sonata, and just like having a good time. Like that's such a depressing, like you feel like, just shoot me now. I'm thinking of Beethoven, he's just like, I want to die, I'm losing my hearing. Like that's what I think of when I think of Moonlight Sonata, is like this guy is depressed. And so when you hear it, it's like there's no words, there's nothing like, it's not like it's telling me to be depressed, it's not saying something crazy, it's just the music itself. Clara and Anna move apart from each other, now. So I think about that, because he's just playing a harp, it doesn't say he's necessarily singing, but I don't know about you, but I've never, like harps just sound uplifting, right? There's certain instruments that just have an uplifting sound. A banjo, I'm not advocating a banjo, you know, for our music, but have you ever listened to a banjo, and like heard someone play it sadly? I haven't. That would actually be, if you find a video of a banjo with a sad song, let me know. It's always the most upbeat, like I mean, I know it's country bumpkin, I know it's like, you know, you think of like deliverance or something like that, when you're like hearing the banjo, but it's an uplifting type of instrument, and there's certain instruments like that, they're just uplifting by nature, and then there's instruments that can go either way, depending on how you play it, right? It's like playing major chords compared to minor chords, the major chords are gonna sound more uplifting, the minor chords are gonna sound a little more depressing, and so that being said, is that music has a lot of power when it comes to your emotions. I like music, and listen, when I'm working, a lot of times, I just listen to like classical type music. It's not necessarily like Christian stuff. Now obviously, I'm listening to Christmas music, because I'm not the Grinch, so when I'm at work, I'm listening to, you know, classical Christmas music, and all that stuff, but you know, music can definitely, it can make you more productive, or it could depress you, right? It depends on what type of music you're getting into. So with David, you think about the spirit of lords coming upon him, and he's playing, and obviously he's cunning and playing, and David is just this great character where obviously he's this cunning player, he's this humble guy, that's just doing what his father's telling him to do, he's keeping the sheep, and he's being set up as being king, and this is where you think about the fact that he wrote all these Psalms, I mean from the very beginning, he was into music, and it talks about how he's, it says, I'll just read to you in 2 Samuel 23 in verse 1, it says, Now these be the last words of David, David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the god of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of the lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. I want you to think about this character first, you know, and we'll be done. David, who is going to be called the sweet psalmist of Israel, because, I mean think about all the Psalms that he wrote, obviously under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, right, but he's also made king, and he has, you know, it says that he has a man after God's own heart, he's a valiant man, the next chapter, I mean that's the most famous story probably with David, is the fact of David and Goliath, and how he kills the giant Goliath, and, so if you know an Old Testament story, it's probably going to be Jonah, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the ark, and it's going to be David and Goliath, right, those are like the big stories that most people are going to remember, and, but also he's a prophet, so obviously you can see that with the Psalms, because it's God's word, but in the New Testament it literally says, you know, talking about, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, therefore being a prophet, you know, it talks about David being a prophet, so, I mean, David is an extremely great character, someone that we can look to and say, hey, there's a lot of things we can learn from him and his story, and obviously David's not perfect, he's going to make mistakes, all of that, but David has a lot of qualities, that if he's a man after God's own heart, there's going to be certain qualities about David that we're going to see, that really show us the heart of God, and one of the things that I think that really stands out, throughout the story of David, through 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, is how he loves his enemies, you know, when people say, well, you know, in the Old Testament you hate your enemies, and you love your neighbor, people have said that, that's not in the Bible, Bible actually commands you to, if your neighbor's hungry or thirsty, to feed him and give him a drink, but David is a great example of someone that loves his enemies, and listen, before we were saved, the Bible says that we were enemies, not haters of God, we were enemies though, but he loved us, and he died for us, so that we would be reconciled, and have peace with God, and that's something that I see with David, with Saul, he's going to love Saul, even though Saul's his enemy, and he's going to love people that despise him, and he's going to love people that are his enemies, that are against him, and that, almost to a fault actually, you know, to a point where he's like, doing it so much, that the people are going to basically like, you love your enemies so much, that you hate your friends, right, so David sometimes takes it a little too far, but so we're getting into David, Saul will still obviously be in this story, throughout the rest of this book, but David is going to be in here, and this is going to be a story about David, and how he goes from the sheep cod, to being king, and really him being king doesn't happen, until second Samuel, so like all this is going to be, basically the struggle of dealing with this transition, between Saul and David, and how that all plays out, so let's end with the word of prayer, the heavenly father we thank you for today, thank you for your word, thank you for the book of first Samuel, and lord pray to you to help me, and fill me with your spirit, to help me to preach it correctly, rightly, and lord just pray that you help us, to learn everything that we can, from these passages, and lord we love you, and pray that you be with us, as we go back home, give us safe travels, and lord we pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen, but they will come and sing one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. All right take your songbooks, and turn to song 433. Song 433 in your songbooks, we'll sing away in the manger, away in a manger, if you would stand, we'll sing song 433. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little lord Jesus lay down his sweet head, the stars in the sky look down where he lay, the little lord Jesus asleep on the hay, the cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little lord Jesus, no crying he makes, I love thee lord Jesus, look down from the sky, and stay by my cradle, till morning