The Joy Bringer Podcast with Season Bowers - The Joy Bringer Podcast - 1 Samuel Ch 10 (Come Out From Under The Baggage)

0:00Joy is for you. Welcome to the Joy Bringer podcast. The world is full of uncertainties, difficulty, and pain. It needs joy, and you and I can bring it. But we can't bring what we don't have. I'm so glad you've joined me today. Let's grab hold of joy and bring it everywhere we go. Come out, come out wherever you are. I'm season on the Joy Bringer podcast. And I'm grateful to be with you. And that is the call from the Holy Spirit today. Come out, come out from the wreckage. Come out from underneath your baggage. Come out from hiding because the Lord has purpose for you. The Lord has a new life, a new heart, refreshing, empowerment, and an assignment. We're going to learn more about that through 1 Samuel chapter 10. And man, just reading through it already.

1:01I'm vex limped. I'm feeling all of the feels because God is so gracious to us. He's so good to see beyond our shortcomings, our fears, to see beyond our station and life, and to call us up higher, to rely on him, and to do good things. So let's be inspired together. Let's connect with the Holy Spirit and allow the Lord to speak to our hearts through the word of God. Here we go, 1 Samuel chapter 10. Samuel anoints Saul as king. Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul's head. He kissed Saul and said, I'm doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession. When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel's tomb at Zelza on the border of Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys have been found, and that your father has stopped worrying about them and is now worried about you. He is asking, have you seen my son?

2:02When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at Bethel. One will be bringing three young goats. Another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a wine skin full of wine. They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept. When you arrive at Ghibaea of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship. They will be playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre, and they will be prophesying. At that time, the spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person. After these signs take place, do what must be done for God is with you. Then go down to Gilgol ahead of me. I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. You must wait for seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions. Samuel's signs are fulfilled. As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart, and all Samuel's signs were fulfilled that day.

3:10When Saul and his servant arrived at Ghibaea, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them. Then the spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he too began to prophesy. When those who knew Saul heard about it, they exclaimed, What is even Saul a prophet? How did the son of Kish become a prophet? And one of those standing there said, can anyone become a prophet, no matter who his father is? So that is the origin of the saying is even Saul a prophet. When Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the place of worship. Where have you been? Saul's uncle asked him and his servant. We were looking for the donkeys, Saul replied, but we couldn't find them, so we went to Samuel to ask him where they were. And what did he say? His uncle asked. He told us that the donkeys had already been found, Saul replied, but Saul didn't tell his uncle what Samuel said about the kingdom. Saul is acclaimed king. Later, Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet before the Lord at Mizpah.

4:12And he said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel has declared. I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were oppressing you. But though I have rescued you from your misery and distress, you have rejected your God today, and have said, no, we want a king instead. Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by tribes and clans. So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by Lot. Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the matriots was chosen. And finally, Saul, son of Kish, was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared. So they asked the Lord, where is he? And the Lord replied, he is hiding among the baggage. So they found him and brought him out, and he stood, head, and shoulders above anyone else. Then Samuel said to all the people, this is the man the Lord has chosen as your king.

5:14No one in all of Israel is like him. And all the people shouted, long live the king! Then Samuel told the people what the rights and duties of a king were. He wrote them down on a scroll and placed it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent the people home again. When Saul returned to his home at Gidea, a group of men whose hearts God had touched went with him. But there were some scoundrels who complained, how can this man save us? And they scorned him, and they refused to bring him gifts, but Saul ignored them. Nahash, king of the Amorites, had been grievously oppressing the people of Gad and Ruben, who lived east of the Jordan River. He gouged out the right eye of each of the Israelites living there, and he didn't allow anyone to come and rescue them. In fact, of all the Israelites east of the Jordan, there wasn't a single one whose right eye Nahash had not gouged out. But there were 7,000 men who had escaped from the Amorites, and they had settled in Jbeş Gilead. Amen.

6:16The Lord has a plan. He also knows that the enemy wants to thwart that plan. The enemy makes all kinds of attempts to disqualify us, to cover us in shame, to hurl accusations at us, and get us to believe the lie that either God is not at work doing a good thing, or that we're no longer qualified for the things that God has for us. You see, you and I probably don't have the capacity to see or understand or believe the thing the Lord has for us. Have you ever gotten to a place in your life and looked back and thought, oh my gosh, how did I get here? There's just no way I could have dreamt up this situation. I know that I regularly think that with the fact that I own a coffee shop. I mean, I hate coffee. It's just a crazy thing. I just never imagined that I would own on my own business, let alone a coffee shop. But God gave my husband an idea, and we've persevered through the difficulties.

7:16We've persevered through the lies the enemy wants to tell us, and all of the obstacles along the way. If you would have told me 20 years ago that I would marry somebody with three children and become a mom that way, I don't know if I would have believed you. I'm not even sure I would have run toward it, but God. Saul has no basis for the things Samuel tells him. He cannot wrap his brain around the fact that he is going to be king. So when the time arrives, where do we find him hiding underneath the baggage? You can imagine all of the tribes of Israel had to travel from their territories to come and be together for this ceremony. So the stuff that they brought with them, right, had to be immense and Saul in this moment. He knows what's about to happen because he's already been anointed. He's already been told about it. He's hiding underneath the baggage. Now, I want to make sure that our timelines are clear.

8:17This is after he's been filled with the Holy Spirit. This is after Samuel tells him what's going to happen and every single thing Samuel says happens exactly the way he says it. This is after Scripture says he has made completely new. He has a new heart. He's a different person. And yet he goes back to hide under the baggage. Have you ever had a relapse like that? Have you ever felt an incredible shift in you, the power of the Lord? You were saved. Maybe you were baptized. You had an encounter with the Lord and you're like, I feel different. I feel new. And then when the go and gets tough, you sort of crawl back in this familiar pile. God is so aware of who we are. He knows us. We are his children. And he was kind to not disqualify Saul in this moment. And he doesn't disqualify us either, but extends a hand of invitation and says, come out from under that baggage.

9:19It doesn't belong to you anymore. Receive fully the filling of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Lord, the changed heart, agree with heaven and be healed. You see, when we hide under our baggage, we can't step fully into what the Lord has for us. But God doesn't expect us to do it on our own. That's why Saul is filled with the Holy Spirit first. That is why it says that God gave him a new heart. It's why he met him in a powerful way. It's why the Lord sent prophets to surround him, to speak truth, to prophesy, to agree with heaven over Saul. We don't know exactly what was said in this incredible encounter, but what we do know to be true is that it was the spirit of the Lord speaking. That God had every intention to empower Saul to step into this new role. And he has the same plan for you. The Lord is not just trying to kick you out of the boat and say, sink or swim, baby.

10:25He says, I want to have an encounter with you and that my presence and my power will change you, will heal you, will empower you. I want to send people around you to agree with heaven, to speak life and truth over you and in you so that you can step into what I have for you. And in that moment where he is invited to step up and step into the new role and assignment, he still freaked out. But I just think this is such a great human moment. I've felt that way. I'm sure you have as well, but the Lord has better for you. The enemy wants us to be small and to stay small, but we've got to recognize the tactics of the enemy and stand tall, stand in our identity in Christ, stand in confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit. It says when they took him out from underneath the baggage, he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Yes, that's because he was tall. However, that's what the Lord wanted for him metaphorically as well to stand tall in his new identity because there was work to be done.

11:30This last little paragraph about Nahash, the king of the Emirates who gouged out the right eye of the Israelites living in Gad and Ruben. That's not included in some early manuscripts, but that section was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. And so it's included here in the NLT, but there's real intention with this. Saul had to step into his new role so that he could protect the Israelites so that he could do what the Israelites wanted him to do. There was a job to be done and it required him to come out from hiding. So my question for you today is, are you hiding? Have you had an encounter with the Lord? Have you been changed? Have you been called? Has it been affirmed? And yet you're cowering in the corner, you're hiding under the baggage, the lies, and the accusations of the enemy over your life? Let this be a sign for you today. Let this be the word of the Lord over you that says, come out of hiding.

12:32Be refreshed in the filling of the Holy Spirit. Be reminded of your new identity, your new heart, and the power that's within you. And step boldly out and into your calling. The Lord has something for you. He has more than you can imagine. And it's time. And you don't need to worry about what to do. You don't need to worry about if you can do it. Remember the Lord gave Saul the Holy Spirit before his coronation, if you will. And the Lord is present with you right now, filling you with everything that you need. Receive it. You are not going out there on your own. The Lord has provided away. He's provided everything you need and he loves you. And he wants you to stand, head, and shoulders above the rest in your identity as a son or daughter of the King. Thank you for listening to The Joybringer Podcast. I would love to connect with you. Find me on social media or on my website at seasongowers.com.

13:33For more information on how to live like the gospel is good news, check out my book The Joybringer Challenge. You can buy it anywhere books are sold or on my website. Thanks again for listening. And hey, I love you.