Skip to content Flight 1SAM1 - Part C Nov 13 · 26 min ...more
Flight 1SAM1 - Part C
November 13, 2026 · 26 min
What do you do when things don’t turn out the way you hoped? Listen as Pastor Skip looks at Samuel’s disappointment and reminds you that God is never without a plan.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast November 13, 2026 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
What do you do when things don’t turn out the way you hoped? Listen as Pastor Skip looks at Samuel’s disappointment and reminds you that God is never without a plan. ...more Show the full description Show less What do you do when things don’t turn out the way you hoped? Listen as Pastor Skip looks at Samuel’s disappointment and reminds you that God is never without a plan.
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0:00 This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you understand God's word and discover how its truth applies to your everyday life through0:12 clear, practical bible teaching. And if you'd like more biblical encouragement throughout your week, sign up for pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and helpful0:24 resources designed to keep you growing in your faith and connected to god's word, all delivered right to your inbox. It's free, and signing up only takes a moment. Go to connect with Skip dot com and join the list0:35 today. That's connect with Skip dot com. Before today's teaching, something you won't wanna miss, an invitation to walk where Jesus walked next spring.0:44 Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel? Lenny and I wanna invite you to join us for a life changing journey through the land of the Bible in April of twenty twenty seven. You can walk where Jesus walked. You0:56 can worship on the Sea of Galilee. You can celebrate baptisms at the Jordan River, and we're gonna share communion at the empty tomb. You'll also have the option to attend the Epicenter Summit1:08 in Jerusalem, where I'll be speaking alongside of Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, Anne Graham Lotz, Jack Graham, and more. So join us April fifth through April1:20 sixteenth. You can learn more today at connect with skip dot com slash israel.1:26 Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.1:30 The Amalekites were like an aggressive cancer. And if you are wondering why would God want them wiped out, understand this. They weren't wiped out. Saul1:41 disobeyed. And now follow the story forward to the book of Esther. And it says that there was a guy in the land of Persia called Haman,1:54 who was an Agagite. You know what an Agagite is? A descendant of Agag. Agag was the king of the2:05 Amalekites. And he was one of the people that Saul spared. So now almost the entire nation of the Jews would be wiped out by an2:17 Agagite Because Saul didn't want to obey God's command and kill Agag, the Amalekite. Chapter fifteen, verse thirteen, Samuel went to Saul.2:31 And Saul said to him so now it's like a showdown. So you just picture here's King Saul and the army. Over here on that horizon is Samuel the prophet, they're just sort of walking toward each other, walking toward each2:41 other. Now they meet. And Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. Oh, that sounds good.2:53 Say, I hired this guy on my staff. He's so spiritual. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. He had the right talk. Samuel said to him,3:06 what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? Yet don't I remember saying that God said, kill even all the animals? Don't3:18 take any spoils. And you are saying, oh, praise God, brother. I've done everything God, our Father, wanted us to do. Really? Why do I hear sheep3:31 and cows if you've obeyed God's voice? And Saul said, they he's pointing now to them, his army. They have brought them from the3:42 Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God. And the rest we have utterly3:54 destroyed. Oh, wait till God smells that sheep burning. It's the best mutton He's ever smelled. Then Samuel said to Saul,4:06 be quiet. I love Samuel. He's a man's man. Not, well, that's how you feel. That's not how I see it. Be quiet. Zip it. Stop4:18 talking. And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, go speak on. Go down to verse twenty two.4:32 So Samuel said, has the Lord great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? As in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed4:44 than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He, the4:56 Lord, has rejected you from being King. Would you let this serve as a warning? We are so quick, as soon as anybody mentions God,5:09 to say, oh, they love the Lord. They follow God. They're believers. We especially like to do this with famous people our heroes, our sports heroes, musical figures.5:21 They mentioned God, spirit in the sky, or something generic as that goes. Must be believers. We just want them to believe, and so we let them join the family of God5:33 by almost any kind of admission that God exists. We have to be careful because this man, Saul, has all the right talk. He has no walk whatsoever. Verse5:44 thirty five, Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that he made him king over Israel. Now5:56 enter David, and we get to the fourth section of this book, the rise of a poet. If I were to sum it up thus far, including this point, I would do this.6:09 Samuel is dejected. Saul is rejected. God has selected the next in line. Samuel, the6:21 prophet's all dejected. He's bummed out. Oh, man. The first King Saul is rejected, but God has selected David, a man after his own heart. God is never without a plan. Chapter sixteen, verse6:33 one. Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing that I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending6:44 you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons. I love this. God is6:56 never without a plan. God is never out of control. God never sweats. He never panics. God7:08 rules the universe with his feet up. That's how confident he is. Samuel, not so much. He's going, what are we going to do? God says, what are you doing crying for this guy7:20 so long for? I've got somebody picked out. Don't sweat it. You remember the story in Isaiah chapter six? King Uzziah had been on the throne for fifty two years. He was a good king, brought many reforms to the7:32 land. He died. And when he died, people were wondering, now what? Who's going to rule? Who's going to be in charge? The king is not on the throne. Uzziah is not on the throne.7:44 We need the right guy on the throne. You know, it's what we do every four years with elections. We panic if the person we voted for didn't get voted in.7:55 So it says, chapter six of Isaiah, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on the throne. Uzziah may be off the throne. God is not.8:07 He's on His throne in heaven. And the train of His robe, Isaiah said, filled the temple. He saw a vision of the glory of God. I think sometimes we see8:19 a vacancy in office, or a leader falling, or a church folding, or a movement fading, and we begin to panic. God's not panicked. God's got it all perfectly under control.8:33 Now, here's what's cool. God selects a shepherd boy in the house of Jesse named David. He's out watching sheep. He's not even included in the lineup when Samuel goes to pick out8:44 a king. How is God going to take a shepherd with absolutely no experience at all except for hunting down wolves with stones and caring for a few sheep and and looking up and writing cool8:56 poems and songs and stuff, how is he going to get him ready to rule a nation? Fun plan God has in mind. God has to somehow get him into the palace so he can be an9:08 intern, which is effectively what God does. God uses Saul and his paranoia to get David, who's a skilled musician and songwriter, into the palace.9:21 Verse twenty two, Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, 'Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.' Saul is temperamental,9:34 mostly temper, very little mental. And he's volatile in his moods. He has incredible mood swings. And he has discovered that if he can9:46 tune into the right station or have the right podcast on, the right music will sue them. He hears that David is the skilled musician. So he thought, I'll bring David into the9:57 palace. Bing. Let him hang around me. Bing. And eventually, David will become Saul's armor bearer. So he's going to get lots10:09 of he'll be able to king it pretty soon. Verse twenty three, So it was whenever the spirit of God the spirit from God was upon Saul that's the spirit that God sent him to torment him10:21 that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.10:33 Now, keep in mind, by this time, David's in the palace. He has already heard the words of Jesse the seer tell him, you're anointed as the next king. Knowing he's the next10:45 king, David is in the presence of the king and never tries to upstage him, never tries to self promote, never says, oh, by the way, did you know that Samuel10:57 was checking me out and that I'm like the next king because you're like a failure? Never ever brought it up. In fact, you wouldn't even touch God's anointed throughout the rest of the story. He's a skilled musician who11:08 comes to play for Saul. He becomes a palace intern. He becomes the armor bearer of the king and eventually the king. You're going to discover something else about Saul11:19 again. I'm or you're to see something you've already noticed. But again, insecure people cannot stand efficient people around them or under them. They try to punish them.11:31 They don't want to promote them. So what happens in chapter seventeen is the whole incident with Goliath. Goliath is mammoth dude fighting the children of Israel, the Philistines11:43 against the Israelites. David comes on the scene. I don't have to tell you the story. You could say it tonight in your sleep. You know it so well.11:50 This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your generosity helped share clear Bible teaching with people who need the truth and hope of God's word. And as Christmas approaches, we'd love to thank you with two12:02 meaningful resources designed to encourage faith in you and the people you love. The Daily God Journal by pastor Skip will guide you through scripture and prayer every day for an entire year. And Nate Heitzig's12:13 Christmas Under the Tree tells the story of Jesus from the cradle to the cross in a way your whole family can experience together. Keep these resources or give them as meaningful Christmas gifts while your12:25 generosity helps connect more people to God's word. Receive both when you give fifty dollars or more to share biblical truth with more people around the world. Request your copies at connect with Skip dot com slash12:37 offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. Now here is more from Pastor Skip.12:44 So David defeats Goliath. The people write a song, and the people sing it out in the streets. Chapter eighteen, verse six. So it happened. As they were coming home12:56 that is, the king and his entourage from the battle. And when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to13:08 meet King Saul with his tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced and said13:20 here's the lyrics of the song. Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousand. I don't know how the song went. David has slain Saul13:31 has slain his thousands. David his tens of thousands. I don't know. I'm just kind of trying to make up a tune here. But it was a tune, probably a catchy tune.13:43 But Saul heard the lyrics, and his heart dropped. And he becomes very, very jealous. So you've heard about pin the tail on the donkey. This is pin the spear on the13:55 musician. He's trying to kill the worship leader now. So later on, David is playing. Verse eleven, and Saul cast the spear, threw it at David, for he said, I will pin David to the14:07 wall. But David escaped his presence twice. Now chapter eighteen through the end of the book is Saul's hatred, attack after attack after14:19 attack on young David. And you see the contrast between King Saul as a leader and the next King David as a leader. This is the time of the year, Christmas time, when we bring out the14:31 Doctor. Seuss book, Grinch Stole Christmas. And you remember that one of the attributes of the Grinch, the personality attributes, is he hated to see other people having fun. He14:42 hated people enjoying themselves. He hated it so much that when he saw people enjoying themselves, he bit himself. That's all. He's the Grinch. And he14:54 just he's destroying himself, seeing things happen around him that he hasn't caused. So for the next fourteen years, David flees. He's a15:06 fugitive. He is going from place to place. Here's what I want you to know about that those years. Fourteen years being chased from place to place, no place to call15:17 his home. During the next fourteen years, David writes some of the best stuff ever, the stuff that you and I love to read, the stuff15:29 that comforts our soul. So many of the Psalms were written during the next fourteen years. Here's a running list. Psalm eighteen, Psalm thirty four, Psalm fifty two, Psalm fifty15:41 four, Psalm fifty six, Psalm fifty seven, Psalm sixty three, Psalm one hundred and twenty four, Psalm one hundred and thirty eight, Psalm one hundred and forty two. All those Psalms have background in this era.15:53 Did you know that some of the world's best music came from some of the world's worst times and people's worst times? Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, the music of the sanctuary is in no16:05 small degree indebted to the trials of the saints. Affliction is the tuner of the harps of sanctified songsters.16:17 So thank you, Lord, that David went through fourteen years of trials, right? Because he, by those trials, wrote those psalms and have comforted countless of God's people throughout16:28 history. Chapter twenty one, David flees to a town called Nob, N O B, and to a town called Gath, one of the Philistine strongholds16:40 in disguise there, incognito. Chapter twenty two, he flees to a cave called the cave of Adullam. Chapter twenty three, a little town called Keilah. And chapter16:52 twenty four, in Gedi, down by the Dead Sea. Many of these places we show you when we go to Israel. Chapter twenty six, verse twenty one. Then Saul said, then Saul said,17:05 then Saul said I'm just emphasizing this because I want you to see what Saul said. Then Saul said, I have sinned. Finally,17:18 the guy can admit it. He says to David, return, my son David, for I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day.17:29 Indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. Sounds good. Great confession. No follow through on this, though.17:42 Perfect words to say. Yes, he's right. He has sinned. But he never backs it up. What does two Corinthians seven tell us? Godly sorrow17:53 produces repentance. Godly sorrow. I know a lot of people, when they get busted, they go to jail, they get found out about a certain sin. Oh, they weep. They cry18:05 about our sin. But there's no life change. Godly sorrow produces repentance. G. Campbell Morgan said this, I have played the fool and erred18:16 exceedingly. These words form the whole story of man. That's the history of humanity. I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. Nine words18:28 that form the autobiography of King Saul, a tragic admission, a warning statement to all of us. You don't want to end up at the end of your life saying, I18:40 could have been a powerful instrument in God's hands. I could have been used by God. You don't want to end with that kind of regret.18:52 Chapter twenty eight to thirty one is the final showdown. Let's breeze through it quickly. The Philistines again attack Israel. Saul is desperate by this time. God isn't speaking to him. He has nothing more to say to19:04 him because Saul's not receiving it. So Saul's final step downward, final step of rebellion was demonic. Since he hadn't heard from19:16 God, he goes to inquire of a medium. Verse six, And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him either by dreams, like he had with Joseph,19:28 or by Urim, like he had to the high priest before him, or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, find me a woman who is a medium. Ah, medium. Mediums weren't19:40 allowed in Israel. God said, make sure there are no mediums in the land. Evidently, Saul didn't really care about that fine print. Knowing there was a medium, he said, find a woman19:52 who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, in fact, there is a woman who is a medium, a spiritist, at Endor.20:05 Now, I don't want to keep plugging Israel. But next time you're there with us, and we're standing on Mount Precipice outside of Nazareth, and we look over the Valley of Armageddon, Valley of20:17 Jezreel, you can look at the very edge of a hill right to your left, and you can see the village of Endor to this day occupied. That's where he ended up.20:29 Chapter thirty one is the end. They go a little distance from there to Mount Gilboa, and it's the final battle between the Philistines and Israel. Verse20:41 two, Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. The battle became fierce against Saul.20:53 The archers hit him. He was secretly wounded by the archers. And then Saul said to his armor bearer, draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these21:05 uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore, Saul took a sword and fell21:17 on. He committed suicide. Verse six, So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that same day.21:30 When the Philistines find him the next day, they take Saul and his sons, decapitate them, take his armor, string the bodies up on the walls of the Old Testament town21:41 called Beth She'an, so that it would be a tribute not only to their ingenuity, but also to their own God. But the story goes on to say that the men from across the Jordan River at21:53 Jabesh Gilead found the bodies, gave them a decent burial. Let's end there. We've come to the end of the book. As we close, I want you to consider what Saul could have22:05 changed to not end up like this. What could he have done? Number one, he could have taken sin more seriously. Don't you think? He22:17 made a lot of excuses for his sin. He kept blaming others for it. He never dwelt with it. Twice when he is rebuked we only saw once where he admitted it. But twice in the book, he admits, I've sinned.22:29 It's a good admission. Now what? What are you going to do with that? So he could have taken sin more seriously. Number two, he could have placed character22:41 over reputation. Two different issues. Reputation is what people think you are. Character is who you really are. Or put it this way22:53 reputation is what people see. Character is who you are when nobody sees. Is there integrity or not? He placed reputation over character. Even when he's23:04 dying, he doesn't want to look bad. Come on, kill me now. Just let me lie just like that. Go ahead. He's so concerned about image, even at the point of death. Number three,23:17 he could have taken advantage of friendships. Think of the people around his life. There was Samuel who heard from God from a young age, who had like a direct line23:29 to heaven. God called his name. Get to know that guy. Be friends with that person. Let what he's got rub off on you. He could have taken advantage of David, a man after God's own heart.23:41 I mean, if you're the king, shouldn't you think, well, why did God what did God see in you? Who are you? Let me get to know you better, especially since David was so loyal to him Every time he was chased,23:53 he could have taken advantage of his son's friendship, Jonathan. He loved his father, but Saul would have none of it. Proverbs eighteen says, A man who isolates himself seeks his24:05 own desire. He rages against all wise judgment. If you have a tendency to alienate and isolate and not really show who you are24:17 to people, I worry about you. I'm afraid for you. A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire you're only doing that because you don't want to be accountable and have to change your24:28 behavior. And you will rage against all wise judgment. One of the best things for you is to get to be friends with people who will be honest with you so that you can grow.24:42 Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps more people discover the truth of God's word and grow in their relationship with Jesus. And this month, when you24:53 give fifty dollars or more, we'll thank you with two meaningful resources you can enjoy yourself or give this Christmas. The Daily God Journal will help you grow in scripture and prayer throughout the coming year.25:06 Plus, Christmas Under the Tree is a beautifully illustrated story that points hearts toward Jesus from the cradle to the cross. Give a gift with eternal value while helping others encounter God's word at25:17 connect with Skip dot com slash offer or by calling eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. We'll see you next time on connect with Skip Heitzig.25:49 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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