In this message, we trace Saul’s final days as king of Israel. Saul’s life functions as a cautionary tale. In other words, by analyzing Saul’s life, we find out what not to do. Here are two truths we can draw from this text and what it says about Saul’s heart:
1. A heart that is away from God seeks to maintain the appearance of spiritual uprightness, while breaking God’s law privately.
2. A heart that is away from God wants the direction of God without submitting to God.
The Big Idea we glean from Saul’s life is this: The way of transgressors is hard.
1 Sam 27 - 2 Sam 1 (Part 2)
March 22, 2020 • Dr. Peter Radford
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2 Samuel 21-24
May 31, 2020 • Dr. Peter Radford
The final chapters of the Books of Samuel serve as an Epilogue to David’s reign, combining two narratives, two lists, and two poems. As we considered each of these elements in our message, we created five epitaphs that described David’s life: 1. “Here lies David: He sought the Lord in every circumstance.” (21:1-14) 2. “Here lies David: He worshipped the Lord with the deepest reverence.” (24:1-25) 3. “Here lies David: He was a mighty warrior for God.” (21:15-22; 23:8-39) 4. “Here lies David: He trusted in God completely.” (22:1-51) 5. “Here lies David: He knew that everything good comes from God.” (23:1-7) We arrived at a Big Idea that summarized David’s life: David was an imperfect man who loved and served his perfect God.
2 Samuel 15-20
May 24, 2020
Today’s message traced the insurrection lead by David’s eldest son, Absalom. This text presents a David who is deeply conflicted. He has a blind spot toward his son and he is blind-sided by the conspiracy Absalom mounts against the throne. This entire incident, which culminates in Absalom’s death, is a fulfillment of the punishment pronounced on David by the prophet Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba. But even while God allowed the difficult circumstances to punish David, God consistently showed David mercy and kindness. We can observe this at several key junctures in the story. This led us to the big idea of the passage: God is both just and merciful and uses times of chastening to change our hearts.
2 Samuel 13-14
May 17, 2020 • Dr. Peter Radford
This week, we work through two chapters that record some of the consequences of David’s sin as experienced in the lives of his children. We discover three life lessons in the wake of sinful choices: 1. The sin of one person clears a path for similar sins in the lives of those that follow. 2. When sexual desire is left unbridled, it leads a person to make rash decisions that will ultimately leave the person unsatisfied. 3. When anger is left unsettled it devolves into bitterness, and the slow burn of bitterness will erode a person’s moral compass. The Big Idea of the message was that one devastating effect of tolerating of sin in your heart is that you are less able to see and to deal with sin in the lives of people within your care.