Here's Pastor Alan Wright with Today's Blessing: a Biblical Faith-Filled Vision. for your life. As Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, slowly suffocated on a Roman cross, the Father did the unimaginable. He took his strong right hand of blessing from the firstborn's bleeding head. and moved it toward the head of the undeserving younger siblings.
That's you. That's me. God crossed his arms in grace. It means that you can walk in the favor of God. A blessing that should have rested on the sinless Savior.
alone. With such a gift in mind, there's no limit. to the favor of God. on your life. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
This is what I'm wanting us to learn how to do: when you're anxious, bring your whole wearied and worried self to God. And let Your heart falls into his loving heart where his perfect love can cast out your fear. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt.
Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, The Untroubled Heart, as presented at Ronilda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
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But right now. Let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Pastor Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? Jesus' peace is literally out of this world.
It is otherworldly. It is a peace not as the world.
So it is not found in the way the world would suggest that it is. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After they'd hiked a full day and built a big fire and they pitched their tent. Ate a big supper and they fell fast asleep.
In the middle of the night, Holmes said, Watson, wake up. Look above you. What do you see? Watson said, I see a sky full of stars. And Holmes said, and what do you deduce from that, Watson?
Watson said. Astronomically, I deduce that The universe has millions of stars, maybe millions of galaxies. Meteorologically, I deduce that it is. Clear sky, so we should have favorable weather. Astrologically, I see that Saturn is in Leo.
And what do you deduce, Holmes? Whereupon Sherlock said, it's elementary, my dear Watson.
Someone has stolen our tent. In literary terms, In literary terms, Watson is a foil, is what is called that kind of character to Holmes. A character that's placed near the hero. And it has similarities to the hero, but is very different from the hero, and therefore makes the hero's virtues and qualities shimmer all the more. It gets its name from an old practice of jewelers to put a piece of aluminum foil, a thin metal, underneath a gem, and the contrast and the way the light hits it will make the facets of the gem shimmer more, a foil.
So a foil is placed next to the protagonist to make that heroes, qualities. Really glimmer.
So, Watson is like Holmes in that he's also investigative in nature, and he is smart. But when you put Watson's ordinary intelligence next to Holmes genius makes him look all the more brilliant. And when you put Watson's kind of down-to-earth, practical, no-nonsense approach next to Holmes with his whimsy and unorthodoxy and all that makes his Holmes approach to life look all the more interesting. A foil it is.
Sometimes the foil is a good character who goes bad and becomes the antagonist. Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi Knight before jealousy. And hate led him to the dark side and uh He became Darth Vader.
So You see this in literature, and what's amazing is that in God's Word, we'll see today. this exact kind of thing, a foil. In King Saul, the first king of Israel, who is a foil to David, the second and most beloved king, and probably most beloved figure in the history. of Israel. And the reason I felt drawn to this is we're talking today specifically about what is the difference.
Between the peace that the world gives, what it is to try to have our, what the Bible says, our flesh. Our efforts Our attempts to be righteous. Our attempts to manipulate and control things. That kind of search for peace. Versus the kind of peace that passes understanding that God gives.
And I want you to see that. In Saul, we'll see some of ourselves there because when Anxious times arise and troubles are surrounding us. There's just something in the sin-tainted heart. that wants to gravitate towards what do I need to do to fix all of this. But God's peace is very different than that.
It's not control. It's more like surrender. It's more like worship. Which is what makes the famous prayer so spot-on and powerful. Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change.
and the courage to change what I can. And the wisdom to know the difference between the two. And I think in seeing the foil. of Saul to David. you're going to gain some wisdom to see the difference between the two.
And it's going to make you want to Be more like David, and that's why I'm going to point you to David, not for David's sake. but for pointing to the son of David, Who is the one that David prefigures. over and over, Jesus. himself. It's kind of an epic sweeping type of look into several decades represented in 1 and 2 Samuel, so let's just dive right in.
The story doesn't really start with something wrong in the heart of Saul as much as it does the heart of the people. Because the people want a king like the other nations. They want. pieces the world gives. And Samuel told them, the prophet told him, said, you don't want a king.
He's going to draft your sons and put them in an army, and he's going to take advantage of all. He was saying essentially, God can be your king, but they wanted a king. Here it is, 1 Samuel 8:19. The people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, No. But there shall be a king over us, and we also may be like all the nations.
and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.
Something in the sinful heart that wants a tangible, a touchable. Visible expression of power rather than trusting in the mystical, invisible. inscrutable rulership. of God. Give us something we can touch, whether it's the instinct to forge a golden calf.
When Moses tarries on the mountain, or whether it is to forge a golden ruler. who will make us feel like We are safe. And what's shocking about it is that the Lord allows him to get the king even though it's not in his heart to do so. The Lord said it plainly to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8, 7, Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they've not rejected you.
They've rejected me from being king over them. It's the same kind of self. Relinquishment that is kind of breathtaking in the prodigal son story, where the father just allows the younger son to take his inheritance and go off and squander it. It's like that, and God says, They don't want me. Right now.
They they want their own king.
So they shall have one.
Some things we learn the hard way. And of course, if you're going to When a king like the other nations who seem so big and strong and invincible, and Israel wants to be big and strong, they feel small and vulnerable.
So if you want to be big and strong and invulnerable, then you need to get a king who looks like all of that.
So they start trying to think about who we got, you know? In all the land, who we got? Who's the biggest, tallest, strongest, richest, most handsome guy that we've got? You know, they're thinking of people like this guy, you know, Chris Hemsworth, like, get him, you know. Or maybe they're thinking about this guy, The Rock, you know.
They're looking for the most virile guy, you know, they could get. In their eyes, it was Saul, 1 Samuel 9:1. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There is not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he.
From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. Uh That's Alan Wright. and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.
You've believed it in your mind.
Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like.
For any woman who has searched for true love, What you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of The Five Love Languages, says, The incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy His embrace, revel in His love. After all, it's a match made in heaven.
It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries.
Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again.
is Alan Wright. It started with real hope and real power. 1 Samuel 10, 1, Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed Saul, said, Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people, Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you'll save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. This is the whole Hope, you know, is this tingly guy is going to do it.
And Samuel, the great prophet, he's saying it is. God's not set you up for failure. He's set you up for success here.
So be a prince, be anointed. Be kingly, reign. Love the people and save them from their enemies. It wasn't just a figurative anointing. The king gave.
The king had a sudden prophetic gift that came in his life. 1 Samuel 10, 10. They came to Gabeah. Behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him. And he prophesied among them.
I don't want you to miss this. Saul was really anointed by the Holy Spirit. Saul had a prophetic gift that was given to him. And so, all of this, this prophetic power, this iconic stature, all of the evidence seemed to be pointing to: okay, this is God's man, right? He's going to do it.
But there's a strange hint. of pike. Really? when they try to find him. At the time of coronation, it's time to put him on the throne, time to give him the crown.
and they can't find them. And so the people start wondering, maybe we got, maybe he's not even, maybe he's not coming, maybe we get somebody else. 1 Samuel 10, 22. They inquired again of the Lord: is there a man still to come? And the Lord said, This is funny.
Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.
So, Saul is supposed to be the king, you know, this kingly guy, and he is over hiding in some baggage compartment somewhere. And they ran, they took him from there, and he stood among the people. He was taller than any of the people. Samuel said, You not see whom the Lord has chosen. You see, he was afraid, he was hiding.
He had experienced the power of God. He had prophesied by the power of God. He had been duly anointed by the special prophet Samuel. He'd been given signs and wonders, and yet something inside of Saul was like a little boy hiding. wishing he didn't have to lead anybody.
So it's the deepest issue in his heart. That's why it's appropriate to what we're learning about peace. The deep issue of Saul's heart is. betrayed here. He was scared.
He was insecure. He was anxious. He was anointed, but he was anxious. He was a head taller than everyone else, but he felt small. He looked like a warrior, but he felt like a coward.
He looked like the right man to face all of Israel's troubles. But he had no idea what to do with his own troubled heart.
So, you get to watch in this drama of the real history of Israel. You get to watch what happens when the anointing power of God comes upon a man who's impressive on the outside and insecure on the inside. And I want to show you a few scenes. Again, we're We're not going to lose sight of why we're looking at Saul because he's a foil who will show you who David is. And if you can really see who David is.
Then you can see who the son of David is. Saul learns, the first scene, he learns that the people and the soldiers are discouraged and afraid because the Ammonites have. threatened them. Saul becomes furious at the level of fear and despair. Nothing wrong with being discouraged or being upset that the people are afraid and not wanting to be afraid.
Nothing even wrong with a little righteous anger. But look what Saul did. Verse 7, 1 Samuel 11, verse 7, he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of the messenger, saying, Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. Carved up a bunch of animals and sent around the bloody carcass fragments everywhere to scare everybody and say, I'll do this to all your livestock unless you start. Getting in line and coming out and fighting.
And it said, the dread of the Lord came upon the people, and they came out as one man.
So it just didn't take more than a few days for Saul to show his stripes. He was going to terrorize the people. I think Saul was just doing what was familiar to him, right? I think Saul understood that internal engine of shame. I think he understood.
performance-based living where Only unless you're impressive, only unless you're doing something impressive, only unless you can measure up, only then could you ever be accepted by anybody. And so he knew what it felt like to have that adrenaline of the fear of rejection coursing through his veins that energized him. I'm just saying, Saul understood all that is anti-gospel. He understood what was antichrist. That spirit that always says, if you don't do more, then you will be rejected.
And you need to measure up in order to be accepted.
So Saul took his spirit-induced. Audacity. And he carved up the animals and he sent them around to terrorize his own people. And they were afraid and they got in line because shame works at least for a little while. But you see this.
This fearful leader was breeding fear and his people. He was saying The way that we're going to be a strong nation. is let's all get more afraid. Jack Shietama in his book, Ancious Church, Ancious People, makes the case that excellent spiritual leadership. is accomplished by what we call in the counseling world self-differentiation.
The self-differentiated leader is not so much trying to just convince others. is he or she is defining him or herself. I've been on the mountaintop and this is what I've seen. And I see a green pasture here and I think we need to go there. And this is what I believe.
And this is what I think God's called me to. boldly asserting a self-definition, of one's vision. But at the same time connecting with the people in authentic empathy, love.
So Shaitama says the leader has to have both self-definition and emotional connection. And if all you've got is self-definition and no connection, then that's just narcissism. But if all you've got is connection, but you're not defining yourself, then you've just. become a chameleon adapting to the crowd around you and you're not really leading anything. And so Saul is just insecure with no idea What to do with the power of God?
And he just is misunderstood. And thought that all this boldness that he felt when the Holy Spirit came upon him was he was just supposed to do what he always does, and that is live in fear and instill fear, but now do so in an even more bold way with his new position and his new power. And he slaughtered a bunch of animals and terrified his own people. Anxious people stir up anxiety.
Well before long Saul gets a victory, a small victory over the Philistines at Giba. And everybody likes that because any victory against the Philistines is a good one. But that aroused the Philistine fury. And the Bible says that the Philistines mustered 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and as many soldiers as were the sands of the beaches. It was just a massive fury of the Philistines now that's gathered against them.
And the Hebrew soldiers started getting really scared. They were hiding caves and cisterns. And Saul was given by Samuel, the prophet, instructions: wait seven days, don't do anything. And I will come and I'll lead you in worship and offer sacrifices, and we'll seek the Lord together. And seven days goes by, and Samuel has not yet come.
And this is what happens, 1 Samuel 13, 8. He waited, Saul waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. Scholars say the Probably they would be offering worship and sacrifices twice a day. And it was probably the middle of the day, and Samuel might have been referencing I'm going to be there for the evening sacrifice.
We don't know, but. Saul gets really antsy about this. The people were scattering. And so He wants to take matters in his own hand. This is at the root of so much of our anxiety, is it not?
It's what we're anxious about. We're afraid of losing our people. Pastor Alan Wright. Today's Good News Message: A Tale of Two Kings: The Contrasting Pathways to Peace as Seen in David. and Sol.
And it's in our series, The Untroubled Heart. I encourage you to stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio in just a few moments, sharing his parting good news thought for the day. Stick with us. Unlock the power of blessing your life.
Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's Daily Blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastoralen.org. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.
You've believed it in your mind.
Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like.
for any woman who has searched for true love, what you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of The Five Love Languages, says, the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy his embrace, revel in his love. After all, it's a match made in heaven.
It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries.
Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Back here now sitting with Pastor Alan in the studio to share a parting good news thought for the day as we place a bookmark here. We've got much more teaching to come on A Tale of Two Kings.
It is, as we mentioned at the beginning of the broadcast in this message, it's a foil, is the literary term. It is where one character is alongside of the other. that has some similarities, but the difference is high. highlight the beauty and the virtue of the other. Saul is a foil to David.
King Saul is also anointed like David. King Saul was. Enjoyed some early success like David did. King Saul had many similarities. But then there's this incredible distinction about the insecurity in Saul.
that really drove him mad. and David's security in the Lord. And how different a path. And all of this is so important and powerful, not just for what it has to teach us about the pathway to the Peace of Christ, but about Jesus himself, who is the Son. of David.
We're in him, we're in David, and we're not in Saul. This is a powerful comparison. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-577-1. 544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production.
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