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Part 6 of 8'The Presence of God' Series
Part 3 in the Presence of God series
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Part 6 of 8'The Presence of God' Series
Part 3 in the Presence of God series
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Thank you to all of you who have been praying for me. We had a serious incident this past week, but God is faithful because no weapon formed against me will prosper. I want you to know that spiritual warfare is real. In the last two weeks, we've seen over 230 people give their lives to Jesus publicly. When that kind of kingdom advancement is happening, the kingdom of darkness responds. This week, a deeply troubled man felt a voice told him to buy an AR-15 and come murder me. He came to our building and waited for hours, but God's presence protected me—I came through a different door. Within 24 hours, he was apprehended and wounded an officer, whom we're praying for.
This is exactly what the Bible describes. The same attacks came against Peter, Paul, and all the apostles. As long as you leave people in bondage, the enemy won't bother you. But when a church starts snatching people out of darkness, the enemy throws weapons. Yet no weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment, God will condemn (Isaiah 54:17).
God turned what the enemy meant for evil into our good. Thank you to my team and intercessors who cover me. I will use wisdom, but I'm not going to live in fear.
Today we're in a series on the presence of God, and today's message is about "the making of a king." We're a true church—unedited, transparent, real. Let me jump right in. When I was traveling this week, God spoke to me on the plane, and I promise you, this word will bless your life.
1 Samuel 9:27 – 10:1
"When they reached the edge of the town, Samuel told Saul to send this servant ahead. And after the servant was gone, Samuel said, 'Stay here, for I have received a special message for you from God.'"
Saul had a servant. Samuel was the prophet, the sage, the seer. He said, "Send your servant on because God gave me a prophetic word for you. This word is just for you."
Here's an important truth: you got to be careful how you share your prophetic words. Everybody ain't celebrating with you. Look at Joseph—he shared a prophetic word about what God was doing in his life, and his own family prayed against him instead of praying with him.
But notice what Samuel says: "God wants to speak to you alone, but God is not going to send you alone." I'm speaking to those of you who have married isolation in this season. You think, "It's always been me by myself. I had to do it by myself." But the enemy wants you to adopt that lifestyle. That's not how God created you to live.
God is not going to send you out alone. Even the disciples didn't go out by themselves—Jesus sent them out two by two. John the Baptist had partners. Moses had partners. You cannot accomplish something great if you're going to try to do it by yourself.
Solitude is good when you need to concentrate, but solitude is not supposed to be a permanent lifestyle. Solitude is your time with God, but God wants to send you out with partners.
1 Samuel 10:1-4
"Then Samuel took a flask of oil and he poured it over Saul's head and he kissed Saul and said, 'I'm doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession.'"
Samuel kissed Saul. Don't let your mind go there—it's not romantic. Samuel was an old prophet. Saul was a young man, but a giant—head and shoulders taller than everybody else. Samuel had to tell him to bend down. It was like a grandfather blessing a grandson: "I'm blessing you because I see what God is putting into your life and over your life."
"When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel's tomb. They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and is now worried about you."
Saul was anointed as king while he wasn't even looking for his purpose. He was busy serving his father, not himself. Here's the key: when you look in scripture, God was never looking for people with selfish ambition. God was always looking for people willing to serve somebody else.
Saul had been so focused on finding donkeys that his father eventually said, "Skip the donkeys. I'm looking for my son now."
What gets God's attention is when a person is more concerned about serving than they are about being seen. Please write that down. Some of us will stop serving if we don't think people see us. You say, "Ain't nobody recognize what I've done. I give and lie and nobody appreciate me." Your issue is you want the applause of men, not the approval of God.
When you start working for God's approval, you don't need people to clap for you. As long as God sees you, as long as God watches over you, as long as you know God sees your labor of love, you're good. God is the one who takes care of you, not people.
You get noticed by not trying to be visible, not trying to be seen all the time. When you look in scripture, anybody who was great didn't actually want to be great. They were just serving faithfully. David was in his father's backyard serving sheep. When Jesus called the twelve disciples, they were all busy with their jobs—they weren't thinking about being apostles.
Maybe God can't use you because you want it a little too bad. Have you considered that? Sometimes you need to peel back the layer and ask, "God, I think I want to be seen more than I want to serve."
There are so many places to serve in obscurity, without cameras, without applause. The need is great, but many of us keep looking for platforms and visibility. Maybe the real issue is that insecurity pushes you toward big seats that you can't quite feel yet, and God keeps telling you to wait because He's trying to do something inside of you.
We're in a generation of entrepreneurs. That's good on one hand, but dangerous on the other. When you're in an entrepreneurial mindset, you think, "I don't want to work for nobody. I don't want anybody to tell me what to do. I want to work my own agenda, control my world, do everything for myself."
The issue is that in your entrepreneurial spirit, you've lost the ability to serve somebody else's vision. If your church doesn't recognize you quickly enough, you start your own thing. You help somebody on their podcast; a month later, you've got your own podcast. You help with one group; next month, you're starting a competing group. You can't partner because your spirit won't submit to anything that doesn't have your name on the headline.
We think that in order for God to use us, our name has to be mentioned first. But that's not how it works.
When God called me, I was faithfully serving my dad's church for ten years. My dad's church was large—maybe 40 or 50 people—but I was faithful. Nobody knew my name. I was there every Sunday, every Tuesday. Whatever he needed, I showed up. Nobody clapped for me. Nobody said thank you. But thank God, I wasn't doing it for people. I was doing it for God. God saw me every time.
If you get discouraged while serving, you have to ask yourself, "Who am I serving?" You might say, "I'm serving God, pastor." But that's impossible. You cannot serve God without serving people. Look through scripture—anytime God gave somebody a calling, it was always to serve people. If you're not serving somebody else and your name is still the biggest name, ask yourself, "Am I serving people or serving self?"
Now, in verse 3, Samuel says Saul will see three men on their way to worship at Bethel. One brings three young goats for sacrifice, one brings three loaves of bread for food, and one brings wine. They will offer him two loaves of bread—two-thirds of what they had.
They saw him hungry and they gave. This is beautiful because godly people share without selfish ambition. If every time you share, you're calculating what you'll get back, you're not moving with God's heart.
Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to be repaid" (Luke 6:35).
We struggle with this because we calculate how God will pay us back. That's why you're missing your biggest blessings. When God tells me to bless people, I just bless them. One thing I know about God: He's able to do exceeding abundantly above anything I could ask or think. Every time I give to His people, God gives back to me.
Sometimes I go in the grocery store just looking for people to bless because I know God will take care of my need coming up real soon.
Samuel tells Saul, "They're going to offer you bread. Accept it." Why does he have to say this? Because many of you need to accept help, but you don't. Only the deepest form of pride will reject the help you need.
You say, "I don't need anybody. It's me and my kids and we're good." But then you cry at night saying, "I feel like I don't have any help." Maybe if you'd be honest, people would help you, but your pride is blocking your help.
Your pride is blocking your help. You're so focused on how you look, so focused on how people see you, that you're missing the help God is sitting in front of you.
Your help comes from the sanctuary. What if the person sitting on your row could help you with something? But we come to church pretending we've got it all together, then go out and be real. If any place we should be vulnerable, it's here. This is where you should be prayed for, where you should be helped, where you should be honest, transparent, real, and unheaded.
I know what it's like. I've been young, arrogant, prideful. God sent people to help me, but I wanted to say, "I got it on my own. I got it out the mud. It was me by myself." But that's false. We all need help. Even Jesus woke up Peter and said, 'Couldn't you just pray with me for an hour?' If the Savior of the world needed help, why do you think you will reach your full potential alone?
1 Samuel 10:5
"When you arrive at Gibia of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship and they will be playing a harp and a tambourine, a flute, a lyre, and they will be prophesying."
Saul saw three men going to worship—they fed him bread. Now he sees a band of prophets coming down from worship, and they're playing instruments and prophesying. Why? Because prophetic words, prophetic prayer, and worship moments happen best when there's a sound of worship.
Worship has a sound. I can always tell when I'm around real worshippers because real worshippers can't help but make noise. They can't be silent. Why? Because there's a sound when the goodness of God hits your heart. Jeremiah said, "It's like fire shut up in my bones—even when I tried to be quiet, I said, 'Glory,' because worship comes out of me."
That's why many of you are so deeply moved during worship. I can say the same thing while preaching: "Man, God has been faithful all my life." You nod and say amen. But the worship team sings, "All my life you have been faithful," and you're trying to hold it back but you're about to cry.
Why? Worship does something inside. It breaks down the blocks the enemy tries to build. Biblical prophets wouldn't even prophesy without the sound because the sound induces the presence of God. When they were in trouble, they'd say, "Bring me a minstrel who can play. Bring me somebody who understands music."
We need to pray for our musicians. When musicians know how to tap into God's presence, they move worship to another place. When they know God, they know how to reach through the instrument. This is when worship goes to the next level.
1 Samuel 10:6
"The spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you and you will prophesy with him. You will be changed into a different person."
I was reading this on a plane and I wanted to run down the aisle to the bathroom. Listen: Saul had never prophesied before. Never. But when the spirit of the Lord came on him, all of a sudden, gifts were exposed in him that he never knew he had.
When the spirit of the Lord comes on you, you will tap into gifts you never knew you had. For those filled with the Holy Spirit, maybe you never knew you were a dreamer, but now since being saved, you go to sleep and God shows you things coming to pass. You pray for people and you know their life before they tell you. God has increased your discernment. You pick up on things without people speaking.
Why? Because there are gifts God gave you, and you didn't realize them until the spirit of God came over you.
Why am I teaching this in a series on the presence of God? Because the presence of God is not just going to church. You experience more of God's presence in the company of others who experience God's presence.
When you are around people who walk in God's presence, it will increase your experience. You will sense more of God when you're connected to people walking in His glory.
You have to be around people who know how to strike oil, who know how to tap into God's presence, who know how to pray and something happens. When they speak God's word, you sense His presence showing up.
This is why I keep telling young people: you can't just go to church because your family goes there. You can't keep going to a building because you grew up in it. You got to go wherever the spirit of God is. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. You got to go where you can feel God's presence grabbing you out of stuff and snatching you out of stuff.
I don't just want to go to a building. Show me where God is. I got to be around people who know how to be in God's presence.
Why is this critical? Because Saul was already anointed when Samuel poured oil on his head and blessed him. He was already anointed, but he didn't change into another man until he got around the right people.
You've been praying for more of God. God says, "I'm not the issue. Your company's the issue. It's the people you keep hanging around. They're more concerned about gossip than the gospel. You're not around people who know how to host My presence."
It wasn't that he wasn't anointed. His company changed. So his calling and anointing didn't change—his company did.
If you really want to get to where God is taking you, you got to get around some people more anointed than yourself. There's an old saying in business: if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. I'm also saying, if you're the most spiritual person in your group, you're in the wrong group.
You shouldn't always be the teacher. You should be around people that you can be quiet and they sense what you need and they speak God's word over you and pray for you. You got to get around some anointed people that can sense what's on you before you say what's on you.
This struck me deeply because all my life, even before I became this version of me, I knew there was another man on the inside. I just knew God had something greater for me. I felt there was another version of me yet to be unleashed.
But the issue was I couldn't become that version in the group I was connected to. I couldn't fly around chickens. I couldn't run around turtles. I couldn't do what God needed because I was around people okay with the old version of me.
I said, "God, I'm trying to shed this version so I can step into the man You're calling me to be. But if I'm ever going to be that man, I got to change my circle. I got to change who's speaking into my life. I got to be around people who challenge me to not give room to my flesh. I got to be around people who challenge me to go into the prayer room. I got to be around people that when I say I'm about to fast, they say we fasting with you. When I say I'm about to pray, they say we praying with you."
Even if a thought of sin comes to my mind, I need people who say, "Not so, man of God. You're too anointed to even go back to what God pulled you out of."
If I can speak this prophetically: you got to be around people who don't think sin is funny. Don't you dare laugh with me. If I call you and say, "I'm about to do something I feel doesn't please God," don't you dare laugh and say, "We're human, it's okay." No. I need people who say, "No, not you. I see something too great on your life to even play around like that. I'm not gonna let you go back to the thing God pulled you out of."
You need better friends if you want a better future. Your life is shaky because your friends are shaky. Your life is shaky because your group is shaky. You're inconsistent because everybody in your friend group is up and down. Some days they're hot, some days they're cold. No wonder you're lukewarm. You can't change your temperature because you're around people who are up and down all the time.
I'm not saying this against you. I'm saying this to help you. The only way out is to get out. Saul was changed into another person.
Yeah, you're already anointed. Yeah, you're already gifted. Yeah, God already showed you the dream. Yeah, He already gave you the calling. Yeah, you already took the class. But the problem is every time God speaks to you, you take that prophetic word and go back to a dead group.
I'm not telling you to abandon everybody. No, I believe God will use you to bring some of your old friends to Jesus. But you cannot be the only one following God in your group and expect to grow. You are not going to grow if you're the most saved person in your group. The only thing you will grow in is self-righteousness.
1 Samuel 10:7
"After these signs take place, do what must be done for God is with you."
Do what must be done. There comes a time in your life when you just need to do what must be done. Some of you have been beating around the bush with stuff God told you to cut off. You've been beating around the bush with stuff God told you to start. You've been waiting too long to announce your calling because you're afraid of how people will view you.
But I'm telling you, it's time to do what must be done. Some of you don't need to learn anymore. You need to do what you've already learned.
Can I be real? Some of you know just as much Bible as me. You've been raised in church the same way. You hear God just like me. The only difference is you don't always obey what God is telling you to do. You're in a season now where it's not about joining another Bible study. It's about doing the life you've actually studied.
I don't want to keep learning about Jesus and never look like Him. I don't want to keep reading about Jesus and never sound like Him. It's time to actually do what must be done.
1 Samuel 10:8
"Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me and I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. But you must wait for seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions."
Notice what Samuel just did. Saul was anointed. He was changed into a different person. The Holy Spirit was powerfully on him. But still, he had to wait.
You want to know your issue? Well, I know God speaks to me. Good. Now, wait. I know I'm anointed. Yes, you are. Now, wait. That's what's wrong with our generation. We get frustrated because we think they're trying to hold us back. We feel like God's got something for us and everybody's scared of our gift. Well, let me tell you something: ain't nobody trying to hold you back.
Say to yourself: "Ain't nobody trying to hold me back." Write it down. Put it on your refrigerator.
Sometimes it's God changing the environment so you can learn to wait. Even though you're anointed, even though you're gifted, even though you've been changed, you're still new. There's still stuff in your character. God is still working things out. It's not that you're not anointed—you are. But waiting builds your character.
What I've learned about God is that sometimes He tells you to wait just to see if you'll go ahead of Him. It's not that God doesn't want to do it. He absolutely intends to do it. But He's like, "Let's just wait because I want to see if you trust me enough to pause even though you see your own way to accomplish it."
You're ready to start the business. God says, "Wait. You go, 'Well, why wait? They just gave me the loan. They just told me I could do it. I just got to prove it.' " But the question is: Is God actually helping me, or do I think God's word is hindering me? Am I moving ahead of God, or do I actually believe that God knows something I don't know and sees something I don't see?
If God is telling me to wait, it's usually because He has something better in the future.
1 Samuel 10:9
"As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart. And all Samuel's signs were fulfilled that day."
That's why I like being around real prophets. You don't have to wait forever for their word to come to pass. All his signs came true that day.
But here's the powerful part: God gave him a new heart. Please take note of this. There is nowhere in your Bible where it says God will fix your old damaged heart. Nowhere.
I challenge all the theologians in the room: go study it. There's nowhere that says, "Oh pastor, I just want God to fix my heart." That's not a prayer I can pray. That's not a prayer He can answer.
God is not in the business of fixing your heart. Why? Because once your heart goes bad, it's done. The Bible says the heart is desperately wicked. God cannot fix your heart after all you've experienced, all your traumas, all the things you've lived through. Even if God tries to bless it, all His good will turn bad because it has to flow through a bad heart.
Everywhere in your Bible, once your heart gets damaged, God gives you a new one. He gives you a transplant. He's not trying to fix the heart that's there. He takes out the bad one and puts in a new one.
That's why David said, "Create in me a clean heart" (Psalm 51:10). Because he knew you can't fix the damaged one. This one's messed up. But God, give me a new one.
God gave Saul a brand new heart. God can't do anything with that old heart. Maybe that's where you are right now. You're trying to serve God. You're trying to do the right thing. But that heart has been through so much. You don't want to trust anybody. That heart has been through so much that you can hear me right now and know I'm telling you the truth and still ask questions to avoid obeying God.
That heart's been through so much that you know you need help and you still won't say it because the last person who helped you bragged about it behind your back and made you look foolish and made you look low. So now you've accepted, "I don't ever want to feel this kind of pain again. I'm just going to be by myself."
And God is like, "I know it hurt, but that heart can't go with you into your future. I can't fix that heart. It's too damaged. It's too messed up. The desires in it are too filthy. The only thing I can do is take it completely out of you and give you a new heart."
1 Samuel 10:10-11
"When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibia, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them. And the spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he too began to prophesy. And when those who knew Saul heard about it, they exclaimed, 'What is even Saul a prophet? How did the son of Kish become a prophet?'"
The people that knew the old version of Saul were the first ones to question the new version God just created. It's always the people that knew the old you that are the first ones to question how God is really using you.
They say, "Bro used to be in the streets. He was pushing. He was selling. And now he's a prophet? Now he's speaking God's word?" Yes, absolutely.
God will take the weaker things of this world to confound the mighty, the foolish things to confound the wise. They say, "She was in the club. Now she's on a prayer team. How can it be?" Yeah, and that's what God did. God took somebody who didn't even know their value and gave them value when they stepped into Jesus.
"Is that the same one? We used to get high together." Yeah. And now I worship the most High.
The first people to doubt you will always be the people that knew the previous version of you. That's why some of you, you got to get away from your family for a season. I know some folks aren't going to like it. I get it. But some of you got to get away from your family for a season because all they see is the old you and what you used to be.
They love reminiscing on old failures and old flaws and old issues. But they never seem to congratulate the new version, the new success, the new growth, and the new anointing. Sometimes you got to get away from people that knew the old you so that the new crowd can accept the new you.
God changed Saul so fast they couldn't believe it. And it can happen that quickly for you. God can change you so much and so fast that people will doubt if the change is even real.
With God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible.
1 Samuel 10:13
"When Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the place of worship."
I think this is so powerful. If you read the story through and through, you learn that Saul was nowhere looking for worship. Saul was only there because his dad said, "Can you go find my donkeys that are lost?"
While looking for donkeys and unable to find them, they go to Samuel. While they're walking, they see a group of people on their way to worship. He's like, "They're going to worship? They got the ghost of bread?" They see him hungry and they feed him. The first person that fed him when he was hungry was worshippers.
Then there's a group of people coming down from the place of worship. They're prophets. When he joins them, the spirit of God comes over him and he's changed into another man. Now he's like, "God, I want what's on them. I wasn't here for this, but I just saw something on them and I realize, God, I want what You did for them. I want the same spirit You put on them. I want the same change You put on them."
The greatest thing a person could ever get from your life is to experience Jesus in such a way that they want the Jesus you worship. They ought to look at your life and say, "I don't know how we're going through the same thing and you got so much peace and I'm struggling. Can you introduce me? Can you help me get the peace you have?"
"Hey, can you help me get the strength you have? Because every day I want to quit, but for some reason you keep going and keep going."
"Hey, can you help me with the joy you have? Because even though we're in the same thing, you're smiling every day and you're happy and you're giving God praise. I want the God you have."
They ought to see your life and want to go to worship with you, not avoid the church you go to. Saul saw these men who were worshiping and said, "I want to go to where they are going."
Your life ought to represent God so much that people start looking past you to the God that you serve. Let that sink into your heart. People ought to be able to see that you should be see-through, transparent, so they can see the God that you worship.
Father, this is my prayer. That we will become transparent for real. When people look at us, they will see You. It's so easy to come into rooms, step into success, and then claim all the glory for ourselves and pretend that we're better than we are.
But my prayer is that all of us—every single last one of us—would submit our hearts to You. When people look at us, they say, "Skip him. Skip Pastor Ken. Skip the group. I want to know the God he's worshiping."
God, may we not draw attention to us, but Jesus, may we draw attention to You. As the worship singers song: we want to see You lifted up. Your word declares, "If I be lifted up, that I would draw all men unto me."
And so Lord, may we at this church forever lift You up. Not our program. Not our agenda. Not our successes. But may we lift up the name of Jesus. It's the only reason why we're here. It's because of You.
In Yeshua's name we pray. Amen.
Thank you to all of you who have been praying for me. We had a serious incident this past week, but God is faithful because no weapon formed against me will prosper. I want you to know that spiritual warfare is real. In the last two weeks, we've seen over 230 people give their lives to Jesus publicly. When that kind of kingdom advancement is happening, the kingdom of darkness responds. This week, a deeply troubled man felt a voice told him to buy an AR-15 and come murder me. He came to our building and waited for hours, but God's presence protected me—I came through a different door. Within 24 hours, he was apprehended and wounded an officer, whom we're praying for.
This is exactly what the Bible describes. The same attacks came against Peter, Paul, and all the apostles. As long as you leave people in bondage, the enemy won't bother you. But when a church starts snatching people out of darkness, the enemy throws weapons. Yet no weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment, God will condemn (Isaiah 54:17).
God turned what the enemy meant for evil into our good. Thank you to my team and intercessors who cover me. I will use wisdom, but I'm not going to live in fear.
Today we're in a series on the presence of God, and today's message is about "the making of a king." We're a true church—unedited, transparent, real. Let me jump right in. When I was traveling this week, God spoke to me on the plane, and I promise you, this word will bless your life.
1 Samuel 9:27 – 10:1
"When they reached the edge of the town, Samuel told Saul to send this servant ahead. And after the servant was gone, Samuel said, 'Stay here, for I have received a special message for you from God.'"
Saul had a servant. Samuel was the prophet, the sage, the seer. He said, "Send your servant on because God gave me a prophetic word for you. This word is just for you."
Here's an important truth: you got to be careful how you share your prophetic words. Everybody ain't celebrating with you. Look at Joseph—he shared a prophetic word about what God was doing in his life, and his own family prayed against him instead of praying with him.
But notice what Samuel says: "God wants to speak to you alone, but God is not going to send you alone." I'm speaking to those of you who have married isolation in this season. You think, "It's always been me by myself. I had to do it by myself." But the enemy wants you to adopt that lifestyle. That's not how God created you to live.
God is not going to send you out alone. Even the disciples didn't go out by themselves—Jesus sent them out two by two. John the Baptist had partners. Moses had partners. You cannot accomplish something great if you're going to try to do it by yourself.
Solitude is good when you need to concentrate, but solitude is not supposed to be a permanent lifestyle. Solitude is your time with God, but God wants to send you out with partners.
1 Samuel 10:1-4
"Then Samuel took a flask of oil and he poured it over Saul's head and he kissed Saul and said, 'I'm doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession.'"
Samuel kissed Saul. Don't let your mind go there—it's not romantic. Samuel was an old prophet. Saul was a young man, but a giant—head and shoulders taller than everybody else. Samuel had to tell him to bend down. It was like a grandfather blessing a grandson: "I'm blessing you because I see what God is putting into your life and over your life."
"When you leave me today, you will see two men beside Rachel's tomb. They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and is now worried about you."
Saul was anointed as king while he wasn't even looking for his purpose. He was busy serving his father, not himself. Here's the key: when you look in scripture, God was never looking for people with selfish ambition. God was always looking for people willing to serve somebody else.
Saul had been so focused on finding donkeys that his father eventually said, "Skip the donkeys. I'm looking for my son now."
What gets God's attention is when a person is more concerned about serving than they are about being seen. Please write that down. Some of us will stop serving if we don't think people see us. You say, "Ain't nobody recognize what I've done. I give and lie and nobody appreciate me." Your issue is you want the applause of men, not the approval of God.
When you start working for God's approval, you don't need people to clap for you. As long as God sees you, as long as God watches over you, as long as you know God sees your labor of love, you're good. God is the one who takes care of you, not people.
You get noticed by not trying to be visible, not trying to be seen all the time. When you look in scripture, anybody who was great didn't actually want to be great. They were just serving faithfully. David was in his father's backyard serving sheep. When Jesus called the twelve disciples, they were all busy with their jobs—they weren't thinking about being apostles.
Maybe God can't use you because you want it a little too bad. Have you considered that? Sometimes you need to peel back the layer and ask, "God, I think I want to be seen more than I want to serve."
There are so many places to serve in obscurity, without cameras, without applause. The need is great, but many of us keep looking for platforms and visibility. Maybe the real issue is that insecurity pushes you toward big seats that you can't quite feel yet, and God keeps telling you to wait because He's trying to do something inside of you.
We're in a generation of entrepreneurs. That's good on one hand, but dangerous on the other. When you're in an entrepreneurial mindset, you think, "I don't want to work for nobody. I don't want anybody to tell me what to do. I want to work my own agenda, control my world, do everything for myself."
The issue is that in your entrepreneurial spirit, you've lost the ability to serve somebody else's vision. If your church doesn't recognize you quickly enough, you start your own thing. You help somebody on their podcast; a month later, you've got your own podcast. You help with one group; next month, you're starting a competing group. You can't partner because your spirit won't submit to anything that doesn't have your name on the headline.
We think that in order for God to use us, our name has to be mentioned first. But that's not how it works.
When God called me, I was faithfully serving my dad's church for ten years. My dad's church was large—maybe 40 or 50 people—but I was faithful. Nobody knew my name. I was there every Sunday, every Tuesday. Whatever he needed, I showed up. Nobody clapped for me. Nobody said thank you. But thank God, I wasn't doing it for people. I was doing it for God. God saw me every time.
If you get discouraged while serving, you have to ask yourself, "Who am I serving?" You might say, "I'm serving God, pastor." But that's impossible. You cannot serve God without serving people. Look through scripture—anytime God gave somebody a calling, it was always to serve people. If you're not serving somebody else and your name is still the biggest name, ask yourself, "Am I serving people or serving self?"
Now, in verse 3, Samuel says Saul will see three men on their way to worship at Bethel. One brings three young goats for sacrifice, one brings three loaves of bread for food, and one brings wine. They will offer him two loaves of bread—two-thirds of what they had.
They saw him hungry and they gave. This is beautiful because godly people share without selfish ambition. If every time you share, you're calculating what you'll get back, you're not moving with God's heart.
Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to be repaid" (Luke 6:35).
We struggle with this because we calculate how God will pay us back. That's why you're missing your biggest blessings. When God tells me to bless people, I just bless them. One thing I know about God: He's able to do exceeding abundantly above anything I could ask or think. Every time I give to His people, God gives back to me.
Sometimes I go in the grocery store just looking for people to bless because I know God will take care of my need coming up real soon.
Samuel tells Saul, "They're going to offer you bread. Accept it." Why does he have to say this? Because many of you need to accept help, but you don't. Only the deepest form of pride will reject the help you need.
You say, "I don't need anybody. It's me and my kids and we're good." But then you cry at night saying, "I feel like I don't have any help." Maybe if you'd be honest, people would help you, but your pride is blocking your help.
Your pride is blocking your help. You're so focused on how you look, so focused on how people see you, that you're missing the help God is sitting in front of you.
Your help comes from the sanctuary. What if the person sitting on your row could help you with something? But we come to church pretending we've got it all together, then go out and be real. If any place we should be vulnerable, it's here. This is where you should be prayed for, where you should be helped, where you should be honest, transparent, real, and unheaded.
I know what it's like. I've been young, arrogant, prideful. God sent people to help me, but I wanted to say, "I got it on my own. I got it out the mud. It was me by myself." But that's false. We all need help. Even Jesus woke up Peter and said, 'Couldn't you just pray with me for an hour?' If the Savior of the world needed help, why do you think you will reach your full potential alone?
1 Samuel 10:5
"When you arrive at Gibia of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship and they will be playing a harp and a tambourine, a flute, a lyre, and they will be prophesying."
Saul saw three men going to worship—they fed him bread. Now he sees a band of prophets coming down from worship, and they're playing instruments and prophesying. Why? Because prophetic words, prophetic prayer, and worship moments happen best when there's a sound of worship.
Worship has a sound. I can always tell when I'm around real worshippers because real worshippers can't help but make noise. They can't be silent. Why? Because there's a sound when the goodness of God hits your heart. Jeremiah said, "It's like fire shut up in my bones—even when I tried to be quiet, I said, 'Glory,' because worship comes out of me."
That's why many of you are so deeply moved during worship. I can say the same thing while preaching: "Man, God has been faithful all my life." You nod and say amen. But the worship team sings, "All my life you have been faithful," and you're trying to hold it back but you're about to cry.
Why? Worship does something inside. It breaks down the blocks the enemy tries to build. Biblical prophets wouldn't even prophesy without the sound because the sound induces the presence of God. When they were in trouble, they'd say, "Bring me a minstrel who can play. Bring me somebody who understands music."
We need to pray for our musicians. When musicians know how to tap into God's presence, they move worship to another place. When they know God, they know how to reach through the instrument. This is when worship goes to the next level.
1 Samuel 10:6
"The spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you and you will prophesy with him. You will be changed into a different person."
I was reading this on a plane and I wanted to run down the aisle to the bathroom. Listen: Saul had never prophesied before. Never. But when the spirit of the Lord came on him, all of a sudden, gifts were exposed in him that he never knew he had.
When the spirit of the Lord comes on you, you will tap into gifts you never knew you had. For those filled with the Holy Spirit, maybe you never knew you were a dreamer, but now since being saved, you go to sleep and God shows you things coming to pass. You pray for people and you know their life before they tell you. God has increased your discernment. You pick up on things without people speaking.
Why? Because there are gifts God gave you, and you didn't realize them until the spirit of God came over you.
Why am I teaching this in a series on the presence of God? Because the presence of God is not just going to church. You experience more of God's presence in the company of others who experience God's presence.
When you are around people who walk in God's presence, it will increase your experience. You will sense more of God when you're connected to people walking in His glory.
You have to be around people who know how to strike oil, who know how to tap into God's presence, who know how to pray and something happens. When they speak God's word, you sense His presence showing up.
This is why I keep telling young people: you can't just go to church because your family goes there. You can't keep going to a building because you grew up in it. You got to go wherever the spirit of God is. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. You got to go where you can feel God's presence grabbing you out of stuff and snatching you out of stuff.
I don't just want to go to a building. Show me where God is. I got to be around people who know how to be in God's presence.
Why is this critical? Because Saul was already anointed when Samuel poured oil on his head and blessed him. He was already anointed, but he didn't change into another man until he got around the right people.
You've been praying for more of God. God says, "I'm not the issue. Your company's the issue. It's the people you keep hanging around. They're more concerned about gossip than the gospel. You're not around people who know how to host My presence."
It wasn't that he wasn't anointed. His company changed. So his calling and anointing didn't change—his company did.
If you really want to get to where God is taking you, you got to get around some people more anointed than yourself. There's an old saying in business: if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. I'm also saying, if you're the most spiritual person in your group, you're in the wrong group.
You shouldn't always be the teacher. You should be around people that you can be quiet and they sense what you need and they speak God's word over you and pray for you. You got to get around some anointed people that can sense what's on you before you say what's on you.
This struck me deeply because all my life, even before I became this version of me, I knew there was another man on the inside. I just knew God had something greater for me. I felt there was another version of me yet to be unleashed.
But the issue was I couldn't become that version in the group I was connected to. I couldn't fly around chickens. I couldn't run around turtles. I couldn't do what God needed because I was around people okay with the old version of me.
I said, "God, I'm trying to shed this version so I can step into the man You're calling me to be. But if I'm ever going to be that man, I got to change my circle. I got to change who's speaking into my life. I got to be around people who challenge me to not give room to my flesh. I got to be around people who challenge me to go into the prayer room. I got to be around people that when I say I'm about to fast, they say we fasting with you. When I say I'm about to pray, they say we praying with you."
Even if a thought of sin comes to my mind, I need people who say, "Not so, man of God. You're too anointed to even go back to what God pulled you out of."
If I can speak this prophetically: you got to be around people who don't think sin is funny. Don't you dare laugh with me. If I call you and say, "I'm about to do something I feel doesn't please God," don't you dare laugh and say, "We're human, it's okay." No. I need people who say, "No, not you. I see something too great on your life to even play around like that. I'm not gonna let you go back to the thing God pulled you out of."
You need better friends if you want a better future. Your life is shaky because your friends are shaky. Your life is shaky because your group is shaky. You're inconsistent because everybody in your friend group is up and down. Some days they're hot, some days they're cold. No wonder you're lukewarm. You can't change your temperature because you're around people who are up and down all the time.
I'm not saying this against you. I'm saying this to help you. The only way out is to get out. Saul was changed into another person.
Yeah, you're already anointed. Yeah, you're already gifted. Yeah, God already showed you the dream. Yeah, He already gave you the calling. Yeah, you already took the class. But the problem is every time God speaks to you, you take that prophetic word and go back to a dead group.
I'm not telling you to abandon everybody. No, I believe God will use you to bring some of your old friends to Jesus. But you cannot be the only one following God in your group and expect to grow. You are not going to grow if you're the most saved person in your group. The only thing you will grow in is self-righteousness.
1 Samuel 10:7
"After these signs take place, do what must be done for God is with you."
Do what must be done. There comes a time in your life when you just need to do what must be done. Some of you have been beating around the bush with stuff God told you to cut off. You've been beating around the bush with stuff God told you to start. You've been waiting too long to announce your calling because you're afraid of how people will view you.
But I'm telling you, it's time to do what must be done. Some of you don't need to learn anymore. You need to do what you've already learned.
Can I be real? Some of you know just as much Bible as me. You've been raised in church the same way. You hear God just like me. The only difference is you don't always obey what God is telling you to do. You're in a season now where it's not about joining another Bible study. It's about doing the life you've actually studied.
I don't want to keep learning about Jesus and never look like Him. I don't want to keep reading about Jesus and never sound like Him. It's time to actually do what must be done.
1 Samuel 10:8
"Then go down to Gilgal ahead of me and I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. But you must wait for seven days until I arrive and give you further instructions."
Notice what Samuel just did. Saul was anointed. He was changed into a different person. The Holy Spirit was powerfully on him. But still, he had to wait.
You want to know your issue? Well, I know God speaks to me. Good. Now, wait. I know I'm anointed. Yes, you are. Now, wait. That's what's wrong with our generation. We get frustrated because we think they're trying to hold us back. We feel like God's got something for us and everybody's scared of our gift. Well, let me tell you something: ain't nobody trying to hold you back.
Say to yourself: "Ain't nobody trying to hold me back." Write it down. Put it on your refrigerator.
Sometimes it's God changing the environment so you can learn to wait. Even though you're anointed, even though you're gifted, even though you've been changed, you're still new. There's still stuff in your character. God is still working things out. It's not that you're not anointed—you are. But waiting builds your character.
What I've learned about God is that sometimes He tells you to wait just to see if you'll go ahead of Him. It's not that God doesn't want to do it. He absolutely intends to do it. But He's like, "Let's just wait because I want to see if you trust me enough to pause even though you see your own way to accomplish it."
You're ready to start the business. God says, "Wait. You go, 'Well, why wait? They just gave me the loan. They just told me I could do it. I just got to prove it.' " But the question is: Is God actually helping me, or do I think God's word is hindering me? Am I moving ahead of God, or do I actually believe that God knows something I don't know and sees something I don't see?
If God is telling me to wait, it's usually because He has something better in the future.
1 Samuel 10:9
"As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart. And all Samuel's signs were fulfilled that day."
That's why I like being around real prophets. You don't have to wait forever for their word to come to pass. All his signs came true that day.
But here's the powerful part: God gave him a new heart. Please take note of this. There is nowhere in your Bible where it says God will fix your old damaged heart. Nowhere.
I challenge all the theologians in the room: go study it. There's nowhere that says, "Oh pastor, I just want God to fix my heart." That's not a prayer I can pray. That's not a prayer He can answer.
God is not in the business of fixing your heart. Why? Because once your heart goes bad, it's done. The Bible says the heart is desperately wicked. God cannot fix your heart after all you've experienced, all your traumas, all the things you've lived through. Even if God tries to bless it, all His good will turn bad because it has to flow through a bad heart.
Everywhere in your Bible, once your heart gets damaged, God gives you a new one. He gives you a transplant. He's not trying to fix the heart that's there. He takes out the bad one and puts in a new one.
That's why David said, "Create in me a clean heart" (Psalm 51:10). Because he knew you can't fix the damaged one. This one's messed up. But God, give me a new one.
God gave Saul a brand new heart. God can't do anything with that old heart. Maybe that's where you are right now. You're trying to serve God. You're trying to do the right thing. But that heart has been through so much. You don't want to trust anybody. That heart has been through so much that you can hear me right now and know I'm telling you the truth and still ask questions to avoid obeying God.
That heart's been through so much that you know you need help and you still won't say it because the last person who helped you bragged about it behind your back and made you look foolish and made you look low. So now you've accepted, "I don't ever want to feel this kind of pain again. I'm just going to be by myself."
And God is like, "I know it hurt, but that heart can't go with you into your future. I can't fix that heart. It's too damaged. It's too messed up. The desires in it are too filthy. The only thing I can do is take it completely out of you and give you a new heart."
1 Samuel 10:10-11
"When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibia, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them. And the spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he too began to prophesy. And when those who knew Saul heard about it, they exclaimed, 'What is even Saul a prophet? How did the son of Kish become a prophet?'"
The people that knew the old version of Saul were the first ones to question the new version God just created. It's always the people that knew the old you that are the first ones to question how God is really using you.
They say, "Bro used to be in the streets. He was pushing. He was selling. And now he's a prophet? Now he's speaking God's word?" Yes, absolutely.
God will take the weaker things of this world to confound the mighty, the foolish things to confound the wise. They say, "She was in the club. Now she's on a prayer team. How can it be?" Yeah, and that's what God did. God took somebody who didn't even know their value and gave them value when they stepped into Jesus.
"Is that the same one? We used to get high together." Yeah. And now I worship the most High.
The first people to doubt you will always be the people that knew the previous version of you. That's why some of you, you got to get away from your family for a season. I know some folks aren't going to like it. I get it. But some of you got to get away from your family for a season because all they see is the old you and what you used to be.
They love reminiscing on old failures and old flaws and old issues. But they never seem to congratulate the new version, the new success, the new growth, and the new anointing. Sometimes you got to get away from people that knew the old you so that the new crowd can accept the new you.
God changed Saul so fast they couldn't believe it. And it can happen that quickly for you. God can change you so much and so fast that people will doubt if the change is even real.
With God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible.
1 Samuel 10:13
"When Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the place of worship."
I think this is so powerful. If you read the story through and through, you learn that Saul was nowhere looking for worship. Saul was only there because his dad said, "Can you go find my donkeys that are lost?"
While looking for donkeys and unable to find them, they go to Samuel. While they're walking, they see a group of people on their way to worship. He's like, "They're going to worship? They got the ghost of bread?" They see him hungry and they feed him. The first person that fed him when he was hungry was worshippers.
Then there's a group of people coming down from the place of worship. They're prophets. When he joins them, the spirit of God comes over him and he's changed into another man. Now he's like, "God, I want what's on them. I wasn't here for this, but I just saw something on them and I realize, God, I want what You did for them. I want the same spirit You put on them. I want the same change You put on them."
The greatest thing a person could ever get from your life is to experience Jesus in such a way that they want the Jesus you worship. They ought to look at your life and say, "I don't know how we're going through the same thing and you got so much peace and I'm struggling. Can you introduce me? Can you help me get the peace you have?"
"Hey, can you help me get the strength you have? Because every day I want to quit, but for some reason you keep going and keep going."
"Hey, can you help me with the joy you have? Because even though we're in the same thing, you're smiling every day and you're happy and you're giving God praise. I want the God you have."
They ought to see your life and want to go to worship with you, not avoid the church you go to. Saul saw these men who were worshiping and said, "I want to go to where they are going."
Your life ought to represent God so much that people start looking past you to the God that you serve. Let that sink into your heart. People ought to be able to see that you should be see-through, transparent, so they can see the God that you worship.
Father, this is my prayer. That we will become transparent for real. When people look at us, they will see You. It's so easy to come into rooms, step into success, and then claim all the glory for ourselves and pretend that we're better than we are.
But my prayer is that all of us—every single last one of us—would submit our hearts to You. When people look at us, they say, "Skip him. Skip Pastor Ken. Skip the group. I want to know the God he's worshiping."
God, may we not draw attention to us, but Jesus, may we draw attention to You. As the worship singers song: we want to see You lifted up. Your word declares, "If I be lifted up, that I would draw all men unto me."
And so Lord, may we at this church forever lift You up. Not our program. Not our agenda. Not our successes. But may we lift up the name of Jesus. It's the only reason why we're here. It's because of You.
In Yeshua's name we pray. Amen.
