I Samuel Overview: Kings and Kingdoms Week 1

The tale is nearly old as time itself. The saga has continued in almost every country and nation. It has been experienced by nearly every ethnicity and people group. The annals of history are filled with records of the same happenings over and over and over again. It has taken place under varying set of circumstances, by varying individuals, and in a multitude of time periods and locations, yet the quest remains the same. What is this epoch in history to which I am referring? It is the all too common battle over who is going to be king. For millennia people have battled and died to claim the throne of one nation or another. Conquerors have come, kings have fled, warriors have died over the simple but profound reality: every nation needs a ruler, and everyone wants to be that king . . .All of these wars and battles, fought over who is going to rule. The same battles are in place today for our spiritual lives--who is going to rule. Who will we allow to lead our lives? Will it be God? Or will it be ourselves? As we come to the book of I Samuel today, we find that I Samuel deals with this issue--the issue of who will be king. And we find that I Samuel is filled with stories of the saga between God and Israel, as they battle this issue of letting God lead and rule. So today we’re going to look at the book of I Samuel. And my task this morning is monumental--we’re going to go over the entire book in one sermon. In fact, these overview sermons I often find to be the hardest because I’m taking an entire book of the Bible and breaking it down into a 35 or 40 minute talk. But that’s what we’re going to do today. And I would like to look at 4 specific episodes that point us to some of the key themes in the book of I Samuel, and 4 specific verses that teach us what it is like when God is our king. So as we begin to look at the book as a whole, I want you to take this big idea with you today:Big Idea: when God leads your life, you’ll always go in the right direction