Week 4 – Samuel & Saul Harmony Christian Church

🎙️🔊 Tune in to Kent's sermon today to learn about Samuel and Saul and the cataclysmic collision that led to Christ. Let's dive in together and discover more! 🙏✨ EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill-in-the-blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.





OPENING ILLUSTRATION:



When I was a kid my brother had been doing something to make me mad.  I was sitting at the top of the driveway with my skateboard, and my brother had been making fun of me or something. As I sat there I can remember as clear as day when I let go of my skateboard, my brother was riding his bike down the sidewalk and I can remember watching it in slow motion as it went down and all of a sudden it hit me that my timing was perfect and he was going to hit the skateboard.  When his front tire hit the skateboard his bike flipped and he went flying. 



We’ve all been there when two worlds collided



-You’re wife meets your ex wife



-When the department leads of two divisions - sales and production explode because one wants to keep selling and the other wants to slow down



-Your kids over shotgun in the car…  lol



Some collisions can be cataclysmic and have repercussions that last for generations. 



ILLUSTRATION:



Did you know that how the Atomic bomb that Oppenheimer and his team developed and used during WWII, at a very basic level, is by having atomic reactions where nuclei splits, which creates a violent release of energy?  Neutrons are released which bombard other nuclei and cause a chain reaction of unfathomable damage and destruction. 



Today we are going to zoom in on a collision that will unfold in slow motion over the next few weeks and have massive consequences.



Today we are going to look at two people.  I want to tell you both of their stories leading up to the collision.



Samuel & Saul - the start of the undoing.



b



Samuel:



Samuel is the last of the judges.  He operates almost as a priest and a prophet.  He was born to a woman who was unable to have children.  She prayed and asked God to give her a child and if he would she would give the child to the Lord’s service.  So, when she had Samuel, she brought him to Shiloh and gave him to the old Priest Eli to be raised.  Samuel is probably one of my favorite characters in scripture.  He hears God’s voice as a young man and he tries hard to follow God - he’s not perfect, but he is a man who brokered the collision we’re talking about.



Saul:



Here’s how the scripture describes Saul



1 Samuel 9:2



Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.



ILLUSTRATION:



I’ve got a brother-in-law who is 6’ 8”.  Jenni’s sister is 6’ 1”.  When we are around them we look like their mini me’s.  But one of the things I’ve noticed being around him, Joe, who is naturally a strong leader gets pegged as a leader before he opens his mouth.  I think a huge part of it is his height.  That people see him and expect him to be a leader due to his height.  You may not believe it, but did you know there is a thing called the “height premium” where sociologists have discovered that tall people on average are paid more than short people?  It’s time for us short people to unite!  Heightest beware ;)



Saul is going to be chosen as the King of Israel, primarily because he looked like he should be a king…



b



As a matter of fact, when it’s announced he is king, they can’t find him because he’s hiding among the luggage…



Saul is of the tribe of Benjamin



At the end of the book of Judges, one of the things we learn about the tribe of Benjamin is that they were almost completely wiped out.  It’s this story of things going out of control - the Israelites have a civil war, they fight