 If you have your Bibles, let us open to 1 Samuel 16, and we're just going to read from verse 1, and then we're going to read for verses 10 through 13. This is a famous scripture. Let us read 1 Samuel 16. Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reign over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go, I am sending you to Jesse, the Bethlehem, Bethahem, Bethahemite, something like that. For I have provided myself a king among his sons. And let's go to verses 10 through 11. It says, Does Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel? Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all young men here? Then he said, There remains yet the youngest and there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ready with right eyes and good looking. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is the one. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramach. The title of the message this morning I want to speak about is called, From Shepherd to a King. I want to be able to take this example and take a few comparisons between Saul and David and some things that we can take out from their lives that we can take for ourselves to learn. What has made, what the qualities that David had and the things that Saul had that we can learn from, we can take for our lives and to apply it to know where we are now is not where God wants us to be, but God has a destiny. The God has a dream, the God has a future for us where we can be to become an answer to this giant generation. Amen. To transform our families, transform our workplace to be the person that God has called us to be. Amen. There's few differences between Saul and David that I just want to point out from this story. We have to understand Saul is not, we're not trying to portray Saul as his bad character. No, Saul walked with God. Saul had great things. He started off great. God was with him. Saul had many victories, but throughout his journey, there were certain things that he did that made him drift away from the calling that God had upon his life. And that's some of the things that we want to look at this morning. One of the things I want to let you know that beginners are not the owners, but the finishers. Beginner is not the owner, but the finisher. It does not matter how you start, but it matters how you finish. Tell your neighbor, it does not matter. Say it louder. It does not matter how you start, but how you finish. And this is a perfect example. Saul started off great. Everything was just perfect about his life. He was tall. He was handsome. Everything looked good, but it's not how you start. It's how you finish. Many of you may be think, oh, I don't have the skills. I don't have the speaking abilities. I'm not perfect at this, this, this, but it's not how you start. Your beginning may be weak. Your beginning may be broken. Your beginning may be limited or all these things, but never despise the day of small beginnings. Never despise how you start, but concentrate on how you will finish the race. Beginner is not the owner, but the finishers. Finisher is not only, you know, their concentration is not, you know, when we, when I was in middle school or high school, we were always run mile. And there was always these people that always pass me. And like by the third or fourth lap that was like, you know, but I was understood. You just start at the normal pace and that's, you know, and your second and third lap begin to increase. And on the fourth lap, just give it your all. And that's how many times you would finish the race strong. But those people who were just like, whoa, start off first, then you see them throughout third and the fourth lap that will be struggling. So for us as Christians, we have to concentrate. How do we live our lives on a daily basis? Not how we have this emotional experience when you give our life to Jesus. Everything is great. Everything is wonderful. And we're like, yeah, we're going to win the world. Don't concentrate on the beginning. Concentrate how you will live your life on an everyday basis. How you will spend time with God. How you wake up early and begin to see God because when that's what the difference between Saul and David was. David understood maybe the beginnings was with sheep. Maybe the beginnings was, you know, taking food to his brothers, but he knew the future that he had. He knew that God will anoint him as a king and God was going to take him to a place where only others dream of. Amen church. And that is the God that you serve. So the first point I want you to write down the difference between Saul and David was that Saul saw an obstacle, but David saw an opportunity. Saul saw, Saul, well this tongue twister. Saul saw an obstacle, but David saw an opportunity. We see when David face, when Saul faces Goliath, he sees as an obstacle, he sees as a challenge. He begins to, his whole army, everybody that he leads, they begin to withdraw and they begin to be paralyzed by this Goliath. Saul has so many victories. God was with him. So many things in his, in his background that knowing that he can defeat. That's for you, who can be against it, but Saul begins to see an obstacle and he begins to withdraw. Then David, a young, rustic and experienced guy who's always with the sheep. No background in war, no background holding a spear, no background in killing people, only killing animals. But he begins to see that he's like, that's an opportunity for me to get to my dream. He sees every opportunity and he begins to see it because he knows if God is for me, who can be against me? If God is by my side, which weapon can be formed against me that will prosper? Every obstacle begins to become an opportunity for you to excel. Why are you facing this morning? You may be facing a bankruptcy. You may be facing a sickness in your body that is, doctors say that it's uncurable. Maybe you're facing, you know, a challenge in your marriage. Maybe you're facing a challenge in your business. If God is for you, that obstacle is an opportunity for you to excel. If God is for you, that obstacle becomes a stepping stone for you to reach your dream. Amen Church, that is the God that you serve. A God where all things are possible. Amen Church. One thing about David, it was that he was faithful with every small thing. David was faithful when Jesse put him over the sheep. Even when it came a time to gather up family meetings, David wasn't there. He was with the sheep. David was faithful. He knew the work when it comes, you delegate yourself to small things and you become faithful with small things. God begins to elevate you to reach bigger things. When he was, you know, Jesse's like, go send food to your brothers or fighting in the war. Go send food to them, you know, to see how they are. David was like, yes, I'll be faithful. If you put me over sheep, I'll do that. If you send me on errands, I'll do that. If you give me this, I will do that because David understood the importance of being faithful in small things. That is one thing that stood out with David is that David understood the heart of God. He knew that if God would give you greater things, you first have to go through smaller things. Smaller steps lead to greater victories. Smaller steps in the right direction begin to give you victories with God. Those things that crush other people with God in your life. You begin to overcome. You begin to walk on top of them. And you'll see how those things, the break others begin to build you up and to elevate your place where God wants you to be a man church. There was this person named Charles Darrow. If you can put up his picture. When there was a great depression in 1920s, 30s, somewhere down there. Charles Darrow was a domestic heater salesman from Germantown in neighborhood in Philadelphia. During the Great Depression, the house he lived on, he was basically losing his house. While Darrow was eventually in during that Great Depression, he lost his job as a salesman. He was going from neighbor to neighbor in great distress. Everybody's losing jobs. There's no money to pay the bills. And he was just on the street walking around and just, how am I going to make it out of this? Many people committing suicide. Everybody lost their jobs. You know, what do you do? As he was walking on the streets from house to house, looking to the windows, he saw all these families who lost their jobs. They're playing board games. And he was like, okay, you know, selling or doing this, this with the board games. And during the Great Depression, while everybody was going through the hardest time, he comes up with a game of selling real estate. And to this day, that game becomes a monopoly. In the Great Depression, he is the first millionaire game designer in the first in the history of the world to become a millionaire through selling games. Everybody else saw an obstacle. Everybody else saw a hardship, but this guy begins to see an opportunity in the hardship. And that made him to become first person in the history to make millions of dollars from the game. There's another name, Bonki, everybody knows Bonki, Reinhard Bonki. In his, he went as a missionary from Germany. He went to a missionary to begin to preach the gospel in Africa. And he has this dream of, you know, Africa being washed by the blood of Jesus. But his continual effort to witness, continual effort to have services proved to be failing, failing and failing. You know, I think they said, he said that the cow that he had begins to die and he had no food, had nothing. But the dream that he had, I'm going to see Africa being washed by the blood of Jesus. Everybody said, nothing's going to happen. You're a white guy in Africa. What are you doing here? Go back to Germany. Nothing is going to work. But he saw an opportunity in that obstacle. He saw that he failing, you know, everything being going down, preaching the gospel is just seem like nobody's getting saved. But he continued, continued going year after year. More people started coming. Year after year, more people begin to save. Year after year, more people begin to save. He came to a point where he was going to have a meeting at this one place. And he built the largest tent that holds large tent in the world. That holds 35,000 people. Right before the meeting happens, there's a huge storm that takes place and destroys the whole tent. Right before the meeting happens, he sees an opportunity in the obstacle. He said, you know, I'm not going to back down. I'm going forward. The same meeting where the storm destroyed, the 35,000 tent is the same meeting where 100,000 of people came to that service. Come on, put your hands together for Lord Jesus Christ. And Wikipedia says this, that Bonke has been an evangelist in the missionary in Africa since 1967. Bonke has had 75 million recorded decision for Christ made during his crusade. He has preached the gospel to more people than anyone in history. A man who saw an obstacle begin to see it as an opportunity and begin to change the whole world for Jesus. What is it that you're facing this morning? What is it that begins to begin to pull you down? It seems like it is challenging your life. With God, you have to see every single thing in your path as an opportunity to reach a destiny. As an opportunity to get closer to Jesus Christ. As an opportunity to become one with God. And to accomplish what God has had in your life. Amen, church? That is the God that you serve. And that is the God that will never stop proving himself as mighty in our lives. Many people are like, well, you don't know what I've been through. You don't know the challenges that I'm facing. It's not the same. It's more difficult. Yes. It's like what prophet Joshua says. God chooses what you go through. But you choose how you go through it. You can never choose the situation. You cannot choose that. You cannot choose the family you are born in. You cannot choose sometimes the sicknesses that you face. The challenges that begin to surround you. But you can choose to come out stronger. You can choose to come out on the top and not be in the bottom. You can choose to say that everywhere my foot steps I will conquer the land. Everything that my hand touches will prosper. You choose that. Somebody tell your neighbor, I choose. Say it louder. I choose to come out stronger. Somebody say, I choose to come out stronger. Come on. Put your hands together for Jesus Christ. Great man. I simply those who choose to come out stronger. And it just fascinates me how Boanke became the one person in history to preach the most people. 75 million of souls are going to enter into heaven because of one man. One man saw an opportunity in the nation of Africa to see washed by the blood of Jesus. Every obstacle that came his way said, no, I will excel. No, I will go forward. No, I will accomplish the dream that God has for my life because I know one thing. If God is for me, who can stand against me? If God is by my side, which weapon can be formed against me that will prosper? Then there's nothing. Amen, church. That is the God that you serve. Amen, church. Number two, Saul lived to please people and David, please God at the cost of his life. Saul lived to please people and David, please God at the cost of his life. When you live for people's opinion, people's approval, you will die by the criticism. When you live to please people, you will die by their criticism. We have to understand that you can never please people. You cannot, there's times where people will begin to applaud you and there's other times where people begin to throw stones at you. The times where people will be like, yeah, you know, we're with you, we're for you. And the other times they'll be putting sticks into your wheels to make you trip. You cannot live for the opinion of people, but you have to live for the approval of God. What is God says about your life? What is God says about your situation? That you have to live for. Saul, you know, his life was good. Everything was great when everybody was applauding Saul. But the moment somebody changed the song on Saul, he started going crazy. The moment the song begins to change for Saul, that David, you know, Saul has won thousands, but David has won ten thousands. Saul begins to go crazy. Somebody switched the song and his life begins to come into depression. His life begins to come in torment. It begins to pursue the guy that protects him for a whole his life. When you live for the opinions of people, you will die by their criticism. It's so important that we put and we anchor our lives in what the word of God says. We anchor our lives on who God says that we are, what God says that we have, and what God says that we can do. That does not change because the Bible says that the word, the heaven and earth will pass away by God's word will never pass away. That something does not change. The opinion of friend changes. The opinion of your parents change. The opinion of your boss changes. The opinions of people change. But the opinion of God, what God says about your life does not change. Jesus knew that. Jesus knew that the same people that were saying to him, you know, the king, king, king of the Jews are going to be the same people that are going to say crucify him. He knew that you cannot live to please people. And that's why things that he's done, he walked his way and he said, whatever my father says I will do. Whatever my father says that's what I have and that's what I can do. Live your life according to the word of God. Make God's word the standard for your life because that will give you ground. That will give you foundation and that will not move you, not shake you when somebody else's opinion changes. That will not shake you when your circumstances begin to change. That will keep you grounded because God's word is afoot still. God's word is a light unto a path. God's word is a lamp that leads us in the darkness time. We can say that I can pass through hell and fire and I know my God is with me. Make God's word the standard for your life. Make God's word something that you live on. Make God's word something that your life depends on. When you wake up in the morning, spend time with God. When you go throughout the day, you know, don't concentrate. How can I do this? What does God say about your situation? You may be going through a hard time. What does God say about it? Not what your doctor said. Maybe your doctor said that your sickness is uncurable. Maybe your boss said that you're laid off and there's no more job. Maybe your spouse said this or this. What does God's word say about your life? Stand upon God's word and your life will be grounded in the promises and the blessings that God has for your life. Amen, church. That is the God that we serve. And I remember when our pastor was starting off a church and the beginnings, it was tough. He came to America without speaking English, not being able to say, okay, this is how we're going to do it to the English people. He said that we're going to build a church. We're going to start a church that's going to reach out to every single person in our city. He said, how can this be? You're a Russian speaker. You don't even know English. He said, no, I got my guys with me and we were picking our nose and we were like, what? We're just small little, what did they call them? Minions. That's how we actually see us when we were starting out. We were like little minions. We were the conqueror of the world. And our pastor was like, that's what God said. That's the dream that God has placed inside of our hearts. And I'm not going to change that. Everybody's like, okay, you do what you can. You're going to be lost. You know, your children are going to be wiped away by this, you know, by this culture. Everything's going to be wiped away, but our pastor was not moved by the opinions of others. He knew one thing. If God has given you a dream and insight, he will stand by you to make it to come to pass. Come on, put your hands together for Jesus Christ. You know, the entries that are sitting here today, you that are sitting on this building, everything that is taking place today was because a man did not lose his focus, was not moved by the opinion of others, but knew what God says is true and it does not change. God's word is eternal. God's word has power. God's word has restoration. That was erection power that can take a young generation and make him into the people that travel all around the world. Right now as we speak, our youth pastor is in New York. Our Ilya is in Cameroon. You know, we are being invited all over the world right now to begin to speak so many people are listening to our podcast. So many people are following the dreams. Today's interns are flying all over the United States. People are watching us live in so many countries. It is because somebody stood and said, what God says is true and does not change. And I don't care what everybody else says. Put your hands together for Jesus Christ. We will be the people who are after God's heart. Amen, church. We will be the people that are not going to be shaken by the opinions of others. Maybe you are the first person in your family to give your life to Jesus. Maybe you are the first person to get out of this drug addiction. Maybe you are the first person to have this marriage. Everybody else has been divorcing off. Everybody says you are going to be just like others. You are just beginning. Don't worry. Life will hit you. Everybody is saying all these things. Stand on the word of God. Stand on the promises of God when everything seems contrary to what you believe. Hold on on the word of God. Hold on to what Jesus held on to. Even at the point of death. We will be the people who make God's word the standard of our lives. Amen, church. Come on. Put your hands together. One more time for Jesus Christ. At the last point, I want to compare us. Saul viewed God as a judge and David saw God as a father. Saul viewed God as a judge and David saw God as a father. When you make a mistake and we all do, we don't need to run from God. We need to run to God. When Saul, he made a mistake. Just like David. Both people made mistakes, but one begins to run away from God. Begins to run away from mercy on grace. Begins to run to a witch. Begins to consolidate a witch. Something that Saul ordered. He ordered all the witches to be killed. And yet you see Saul, just a few times later, he is the one to go to a witch and ask for opinion. When you make a mistake as we all do, don't run from God. Run to God. Saul viewed God as a judge. Saul viewed God as you make a mistake. God will begin to punish you. God will begin to, oh, you wait. You think you got this whole grace thing. You wait. God will punish you. God will, you know, everything that you've done in your past. God will revenge you for it. But even David, who made even similar mistakes, even to a point that it was greater mistakes. Begins to run to God. Begins to fall in his knees. Begins to crowd. God, give me your mercy. God, give me your grace. I know you're a loving father. I know that I must stop. I know that I have a sin, but I know you welcome me back. I know your mercy and your grace is there for me to pick me back up and set me back on my feet. Jesus comes on this earth and he says that if you, as a father, can give children bread when they ask. You don't give them a stone. And he begins to compare the earthly dads to evil. You have to pay attention to this. Begins to compare earthly dads to evil. He says, as children, when you come and you ask him, say, God, say, Dad, give me this, give me that. He says, as earthly dads, being evil, you are able to give him what they ask. He says, how much more? Begins to compare earthly dads to heavenly fathers. He says, how much more? My heavenly father will give you that when you ask for mercy. When you ask God, this is addiction that I have in my life. Help me to overcome it. God, I've messed up. I know I messed up a thousand times, but I know you're not an evil dad. Even if my earthly dad can give me what I asked, how much more can you love me? How much more can you forgive me? How much more you can rescue me? I know my family. Everybody's broken. I know my family. Everybody has sicknesses. But Dad, I know you're a father. You're not a judge. Your hands are wide open to me. And you're asking me, come. You know, I see many times that I have a niece. Anything she asks is like, bam, six grown men are there to help her. The moment she makes a noise, that crying noise, I mean, hell is standing up on their feet. Everybody's there to make sure she's okay. But we have to understand when we sin and we don't run to God, we're just like that kid that hurts themselves. And we're crying that God hears it, but we choose to go a different direction and we run away. When you sin, you hurt yourself. God hears you cry. God knows it's hurting you. God knows it's destroying your life. God knows that that sin that's happening, he knows it hurts. But as a loving father, he will not force himself on you. He will wait until you... And you say, Daddy, help me. Father, forgive me. Father, forgive me. Help me to get back on my feet and help me not to do the same mistake again. David knew that. David knew as deep as a mistake as David knew. He knew one thing. He said, I have a father in heaven. I just have to cry out. And God will hear me. I just have to say, Daddy, come. Just like an earthly father, whenever he hears a cry of a child, he never just sits there. He always runs to him with open arms. But we as children of God, we have to come to God. I always see that. I always imagine that same picture. Every time, you know, we make a mistake. Every time we messed up, I always have that image in my mind that I'm... Maybe I fell. Maybe I cut myself and I'm crying. And my dad hears it. And he's saying, come. He's saying, I'm here. I can help you. I can help you get out of this addiction. Is it smoking? Is it drinking? Is it pornography? Is it whatever it may be? God hears it. God knows it. But he's willing. He's waiting. He's sitting impatiently. And he's saying, come. Come. The difference between Saul and David was that David saw God as a father. As a loving father. He knew that if I'm going to be a shepherd and I'm going to be a king, I need to see my God as somebody who loves doesn't matter my mistakes. Somebody who loves and be beyond my weakness, my shortcomings, whatever I have in my life. I have a father in heaven. And that's who you have, church. That's who you have. You have to understand one thing. When you make a mistake, you will run into something. You either run into a witch as Saul did, or you run to a father with open arms. We both have a choice to make. You can view God as a judge, or you can view God as a father. And that's the difference between Saul and David that I took out of the story. And that's what made David into, to go from shepherd into a king because he understood that I have a father. He cares for me. I know I can't be looking at other people for opinions. He says, he knows who I am. He knows my name. He knows everything about me. I'll live my life to please him. And I find with God who can be against me in my church.