Posted on January 1, 2009 - by Admin
Sermons
The Centrality of the Heart (1 Samuel 16:1-13)
Neil Awbrey, August 9, 2009There are no routine moments, days, relationships or positions in life. Every moment matters. Rather than this increasing the “pressure” on your life, it is rather a discovery that you must pour your heart completely into your relationship with God and others at all times. Something crucial may be at stake or may be happening in what we think are ordinary times. In the last week I have heard (and thought myself) that with school beginning again for me and so many other families, we are “getting back into our routines.” But is any day “routine”? If we see each moment, task, and relationship as a divine opportunity to know and experience God in a greater way, we will put our whole heart into our knowing Him rather than “just going through the motions.”
1 Samuel 16:1-13
1And Jehovah said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go: I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And Jehovah said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to Jehovah. 3And 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. 4And Samuel did that which Jehovah spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5And he said, Peaceably; I am come to sacrifice unto Jehovah: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Jehovah's anointed is before him. 7But Jehovah said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for [Jehovah seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart. 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath Jehovah chosen this. 9Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath Jehovah chosen this. 10And Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Jehovah hath not chosen these. 11And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon. And Jehovah said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. (ASV)