1 Samuel 8:1-22
Big Idea: Only When God Is Enough For Me Do I Experience Life Abundantly
Four Reasons Why I Often Reject God:
1) I Desire The Riches Of This World More Than God (v. 1-5)
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
– Matthew 16:24-26
“This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
– John 17:3
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
– 1 John 2:15-17
2) I Forget The Faithfulness Of God (v. 5-8)
God Is Enduringly Faithful (v. 8)
1) Bondage Breaker
2) Daily Provider
3) Ongoing Pursuer
How To Anchor In The Faithfulness Of God:
1) Open Up My Eyes And See God
2) Humble Myself And Trust God
3) Open Up My Heart And Rest In God
3) I Think I Know Better Than God (7-19)
4) I Desire To Be Like My Neighbor More Than Like God (4,19-22)
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their heart to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. … And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. … Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
– Romans 1:21-25, 28, 32
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”
– 2 Corinthians 3:5