Last time we saw how God moved forward to give them a king like they wanted. His name was Saul. He was a very handsome man who was head and shoulders above everyone. Though God was going to cause His people to suffer oppression from this king, He was still going to mercifully use him to keep them from being destroyed by the Philistines. In this way, God teaches us that we need a king like Jesus whose whole purpose will be to do what God wants and to lead us and save us to be God's devoted people. By looking at Saul (then David)—we learn important things about our Lord Jesus Christ. Today in chapter 10, we see how Saul is anointed to serve God as King. We learn much here about what it means to be anointed (as Jesus was) to serve.

In our afternoon sermon series, we have been looking at the mountains that are between us and God that Christ overcomes. They are like mountains that stand between us and Him. The Mountain we are looking at today is the Mountain of Deficient Fear of God. Job is commended by God as a man that fears Him. In Job 28, Job tells us about the importance of fearing God.

Last time in Samuel, we came to a new section in the history where God's people demanded a king like the nations to rule them and lead them in battle. God said that they had rejected Him. They were tired of God and tired of being different. To Samuel's surprise, God told him to give them their king. Today in chapter 9, we see God's hand and motives in choosing their king. This is written to teach us how God works in ordinary details to bring forth our leaders.

In the afternoons, we have been looking at mountains that stand between us and the Lord. We are fallen creatures in a fallen world, and even after we have been converted, there are things that hinder our relationship with the Lord. In this series we are looking at how Jesus overcomes these mountains. The mountain that we are looking at today is one that is radically removed at conversion, but that still haunts us, as it were, and that we ask Christ to further eradicate from our lives. It is Self-Righteousness. When you come to Christ you renounce your own righteousness, but some of it still remains in you and sometimes you get a new supply of it!

First Samuel 8 introduces us to a new section in the book of Samuel. Israel has been governed by judges—now she will be governed by kings. But this is God's living word. It has much more than a historical account of Israel. It has material that is designed to speak to us as God's people in every age (1 Cor 10:11). Here we have the exposure of our true motives for change in the ways that God appointed. Nobody knows your motives. You don't even know your own. Only God knows them. It is very gracious of Him to expose them, even when they are ugly. It is done to help us. We need to listen and take what He says to heart.

Today in our Mountains of Bether sermon series, we are looking at Bitterness. In particular, bitterness toward other people who have wronged us (or those we perceive to have wronged us).

In our afternoon sermon series, I have been preaching on things that separate us (Mountains of Bether) from the Lord and how He overcomes them. The main focus here is not on what we must do when we are separated from Him, but on what He does to overcome the things that separate us. Today the barrier we are considering is prayerlessness.

Today for our morning sermon, we are taking up a new Psalm of Focus to sing in connection with our series in the book of First Samuel. In Samuel, we have come to the section about Saul where he is anointed as Israel's first king at the peoples' not-so-worthy request because they wanted a king like the other nations as if, they supposed, this, in itself, would make them secure. But despite the unworthy nature of the request, it was God's gracious plan all along to provide them with a king who would marvellously deliver them from all their enemies—not only enemy nations, but even sin, Satan, and death. Therefore, I have chosen for our Psalm a song that talks about God's king and the delight He has in saving us from our enemies! The Psalm I have chosen is Psalm 21.