AMEN 2013: Following the Leader

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

AMEN 2013: Morning Devotions

James Rafferty

Principles of Biblical Leadership – Part 1

Principles of Biblical Leadership – Part 2

Principles of Biblical Leadership – Part 3

And it was amazing to me to think that Saul could communicate to us so powerfully and so directly about Christ.

The Bible tells us that his name is called Jesus because he's going to save us from our sins.

There was 1 or 2 thoughts here that I wanted to share with you just in closing yesterday's meeting because we kind of ran out of time.

And that is that Saul was confronted with this idea that because there were people who weren't supporting him as he was anointed king, that they should be punished.

And in this moment of victory, the men who brought up this idea were wanting to bring the people forward who hadn't supported Saul and punish them.

In 1 Samuel chapter 11, verses 12 and 13, it says, the people said to Samuel, who is he who said, shall Saul reign over us?

Bring the men that we may put them to death.

But Saul said, not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.

You know, I think it's not only in times of great trial, but it's also in times of great victory when Satan tries to come in, he tries to slip in among us and cause disunity and disruption and mar what God is doing.

And that's exactly what's taking place here.

And I'm so thankful that Saul was not just anointed with God's Spirit and used of God in order to gain the victory.

But even after the victory, he continued to abide in Christ.

He continued to walk with the Lord, and he knew how to respond in this situation.

And the last thing that he needed to do, that anyone needed to do at this time, was punish and seek personal revenge for little incidences.

I think about the trials and the conflicts that we have been through or perhaps are going through right now.

And I think about how God wants to unify us.

He wants to bring us together and God is working on our hearts.

He's working on us individually and collectively.

And there may be people, there may be individuals that we have struggled with in the past that we have history with.

There may be people here that you have history with.

And God wants to do a new thing and He wants to renew hearts and He wants to grow us.

And He wants us to believe that He's doing that and that we can let go of that stuff, whatever that stuff is, that we can just let go of it.

And we can believe that God is working in a powerful way to bring us victory.

The salvation that was accomplished that day was all about what God had done, not about what Saul had done.

And so Saul tended to keep that forefront in his brain at this point.

He tended to recognize that this was the day of salvation that God had wrought.

And it had nothing to do with him or with him taking personal vengeance.

That phrase, the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel, points to Jesus, the 1 who will save us from our sins.

And so we see here that Saul acts wisely.

In verse 14 of 1 Samuel 11, then Samuel said to the people, Come, let's go to Gilgal and let's renew the kingdom there.

I don't know, I think that that's insightful because here they are, the victorious, they're happy, they're celebrating, They're not seeking personal revenge for slights that were given in the past.

And yet Saul is encouraged by the prophet to renew the kingdom.

I think that sometimes we take it for granted in the context of victory and happiness and joy and what God is doing that there's no need for us to renew anything, that everything is okay, that we're all right.

And yet there is this need even for those of us who are consecrated, who are dedicated, who are doing God's work, there is this need for us to renew the kingdom, to renew ourselves to God, to take every opportunity that we have, like this opportunity, to consecrate ourselves again, to renew ourselves again, to renew our vows again, and often to God.

So, Biblical leadership directs, Samuel directed Saul, even in the context of victory, to the renewal of the kingdom of God.

Would this be a great time, a great opportunity for us to do that?

So all the people, verse 15, went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal and there they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

There is no greater happiness and no greater joy.

There's no greater happiness than that happiness that comes from being fully committed to God and His work, to basking in His victory and His salvation, to walking with Him with completely renewed hearts, consecrated 100 percent in harmony with God.

There's nothing on this earth, there's nothing that you can taste or experience on this earth that compares to walking closely with the Lord.

And this is what the people were experiencing.

This was what God had given to them in this moment.

So the principles of biblical leadership, the principles that God wants us to follow, lead to great joy among people.

There are people in your lives, there are people that you're going to come in contact with in your work that are miserable or that are trying to make themselves happy with the things of the world.

And Perhaps they've never tasted the joy that God has for them, that God wants to give them.

And He wants you to be a channel to communicate that joy.

So the reason why you are dedicated to God, why you give your heart to the Lord, why you connect with Jesus is not just to go to heaven yourself, is not just to be saved, is not just because you want something better for you.

The whole point really is that you could be a channel through which God could communicate this great salvation, this great joy, this peace, this experience to others.

That God could actually work through you to reach the hearts and lives of others.

Saul had won the battle that day, but it was more than just a battle, an outward battle that had been won.

There was an inward battle, and we know that because we know the direction that Saul took later.

There was an inward victory that had to be won against the subtle temptations of revenge and insecurity.

These battles were also won by Saul on that day.

Because Saul was anointed with the Spirit of God.

Something that is missing from this next chapter, we look here this morning as we begin the second outline of principles of biblical leadership with Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 12.

We look here at the life of Samuel, and we see a man who never left the church.

We see a man who was raised as a third or fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist, a young boy who was raised in the truth.

And we can see the impact that that can make.

Sometimes I meet young people who want a story.

They want to go out and sow their wild oats and They want to have some kind of testimony that they can share because they've been enamored with the different testimonies they've heard of certain prominent speakers who've been out there and done their thing.

And so they want to have that testimony also.

And they don't realize the influence that they can have by leaving all of that alone and just staying close to God in those early years.

I wish that I had that experience myself.

I was 21 when I first accepted Christ as my Savior and I'm so thankful that He took me from all of that garbage.

But I realize that it still has an impact on me today, that I have weaknesses and susceptibilities because of all of that.

And I wouldn't wish that on any young person in the Adventist church today in order to have a testimony.

Samuel is a powerful illustration of what God can do and how God can work through an individual who is consecrated to the Lord from their early years and never leaves his side, never ventures to sow any kind of wild oats.

Samuel's speaking to Israel now in 1 Samuel chapter 12, and he says to all of Israel, "'Indeed, I have heeded your voice "'in all that you have said to me, and I've made a king over you." That's difficult.

That's a struggle because Samuel knows ultimately this is not God's will.

Samuel knows that ultimately this is not God's will.

And so he's wrestling because he has to do something that ultimately he knows is not God's will.

When I first became a Seventh-day Adventist, there were a lot of things that I read in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, and I concluded in reading those things that there were a lot of things the church was doing that were not God's will.

And therefore, I could not work very closely with this church.

These were the conclusions I came to in the early years of my Adventist experience.

It took me on another road, a road that was parallel to the road I'm on now.

Samuel never ventured out on that independent track.

Samuel was in a situation where he was steadfast to God, and he was willing to allow them to have a king because he knew that sometimes you have to give people what they want, what they insist, stubbornly insist on having in order for them to learn and grow.

And Sammy was all about how God works and what God's will is and not what I think is the best solution for this.

So in those independent years, those independent moments that I had, I thought as others that I surrounded or surrounded me thought that there was another way that we could get the church back on track and that we could fix this and we could make sure.

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AMEN 2013: Morning Devotions

Principles of Biblical Leadership – Part 2

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