The Lord has such a personally engaging way of working in our lives as His elect people— One of the tools He employs (and the one we will look at today) is opportunities to trust Him when things are desperate—He sets them up for us and brings them to us. We take the opportunity by stepping out in faith, and when we do, we see Him work and learn of Him and come to love and trust Him more.

Today we will continue our sermon series about the things that separate us from God from which Jesus delivers us. According to the scriptures, we are His betrothed bride. One mountain that is especially displeasing to Him is our indifference to one another. Jesus' bride is unique because although she is one bride, one church, she is made up of many members, and Jesus wants us to love one another. We are all brothers.

Samuel knew that although they were praising God for their deliverance, the thing they attributed most to their victory was that now they had a king like the nations. He wanted to help them to set their hope in the Lord. We will look at his address today that helps the church in every generation to hope in God.

This afternoon in our Mountains of Bether Sermon series where we look at things that separate us from God we are looking at 'Lack of Devotion.' This is a Mountain that Jesus our Saviour transforms into a Mountain of Devotion. When I speak of devotion today, I am speak in particular of the devotion to please Him.

Today, we have four young men to present to you as new communicant members. All four of them were baptised in this congregation over a decade ago. This sets before us the two-fold pattern the Lord gave us in the Old and New Testament: He receives our children at infancy when their believing parents present them. He also expects them to affirm His covenant when they are of sufficient maturity. Since these two aspects in a child's life are providentially set before us, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to preach the relationship of baptism and profession of faith.

In our afternoon worship service, we are looking at things (Mountains of Bether) that come between us and God and at how Jesus removes them. Today the mountain is "Deficient Praise " whether because it is empty or neglected. We are not looking at all aspects of worship, but specifically at praise: declaring to God and to each other His surpassing sweet excellence as the one who is worthy of all honour and adoration. God rebukes His people for deficient praise in Malachi 1.

Today in our Mountains of Bether series we are looking at harlotry and wine (intoxication). Our Scripture reading is Hosea 4:11.

Over the last few weeks in 1 Samuel, we have seen how Israel got their first King. Their request for a king had not been appropriate because it was motivated by a desire to have a king like the nations around them. It was a rejection of God as their king. The Lord called them out for this, but agreed to give them a king such as they demanded. Nevertheless, He made it clear that the king would be under His authority. Some people were not pleased with this and wondered how such a king could save them. The Kings of the nations did not answer to prophets or to God—they were the king! These men asked the question, "How can this man save us?" (1 Sam 10:27). That question is answered in chapter 11.

Today I will be preaching from First Samuel chapter 10, verses 17-27. - Here we have the account of the presentation of Israel's first king! - A great event in Israel's history. But as God's people, we will once again look at this as Holy Scripture written to speak to us and minister to us about our walk with God. We will look at how it applies to us. But first, let's take a moment to remember what led up to this time. A wayward nation. A faithful prophet. Repentance. Drift. A demand for a king like the nations. God's concession.

In this sermon series, we have been looking at some of those mountain barriers that are called Mountains of Bether and at how He overcomes them. Today the barrier we are considering is discontentment.