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In 1 Samuel 31 we reach the end of Saul’s time as king and subsequently the end of his life. This passage serves as a final reminder from Saul about the dangers of living apart from God. And in Saul’s dying day we are forced face to face with the reality of facing eternity apart from God. The tragedy of Saul’s life (and subsequently his death) is that he was so focused on the here and now that he completely lost touch with the then and there (eternity). And the inevitability of eternity should cause us to think deeply about our current life.

Is it possible to go to church, serve in your community, give money to charity, be a good person or even tell other people about God…and yet not be in relationship with God. At the end of 1 Samuel we see a series of warnings as Saul’s life comes to a close. This week we unpack 1 Samuel 28 and see that we can indeed be around God without being in relationship with God.

Why did I do that?  Every single one of us has uttered that phrase at multiple points in our life because every single one of us has a proclivity towards foolishness. In 1 Samuel 25 we see that there are two ends to the spectrum of foolishness.  On the one hand we see the outright foolishness of Nabal which illustrates for us what it’s like to build your life on something other than God.  More often there’s the hidden foolishness of trying to do life independent of the Lord.   Like David in this story, we can lose sight of God by focusing on the wrong thing.

Is it possible to waste your life? The Bible clearly warns us about this possibility. But we also see how it’s the gospel that compels us to live a life that is anything but wasted. This week we unpack Jesus’ parable from Matthew 25 to see how it is to live a life that God calls us to and to steward all the things—our time, our talent, treasures, and the gospel itself—that God has so richly blessed us with.

No one likes to wait. In fact, waiting might be one of the most difficult and frustrating things we do multiple times a day. It’s no different in our walk with Jesus. Many times throughout the Bible there are instances of those who had to wait on the Lord. In 1 Samuel 24 we find David in just such a situation. Waiting. This week we unpack the importance of the waiting period but also how it is that as followers of Jesus we can wait well.

Friendship might just be one of the most misunderstood and misapplied concepts in our culture today. We see in 1 Samuel 18 how the Bible shows us not only what true friendship looks like but how important those friendships are for our life. And it communicates to us the power that is available to us in the gospel that enables us to live into these deep meaningful relationships.