Bent Oak Church

Chapter 8 is one of the most important events in Israel's history. Their demand for a king would set off a roller coaster ride of achievements and brutalizing oppression that would stretch across a significant part of the Old Testament. Ultimately it would cost Isreal so much of the peace and rest God had restored. Worse than the outcome, God recognized their request was really a rejection of him as their king.

Samuel is finally back in the story, and none too soon. Israel is lamenting, devastated by the last three chapter's events. It looks like repentance, but Samuel digs deeper. True repentance is more than sorrow or guilt. Samuel leads Israel into. He teaches us what it looks like to repent with our whole hearts.

The ark returns to Israel. We can only imagine how excited the Israelites working in their fields must have been to seen it. It was a miracle. The Israelites immediately begin to worship. They are quick to make sacrifices but has everyone missed the point? Why had the ark been lost to begin with? Had anything in Israel actually changed because of it? Chapter 6 forces Israel to take a hard look at their own hearts and wrestle with repentance.

The glory of God continues to move the story. Israel had tried to use God as an object and robbed his glory for themselves. Now they had lost the ark, the central symbol of God's personal relationship and history with them as his people. It's now the Philistines' turn. They too learn the painful less, God's glory can not be defined, used, or stolen. God will be glorified. We learn with them the valuable lesson. God's glory must be kept at the center of our lives.

The ark is lost. It is one of the lowest most devastating moments in Israel's history. Who could it have happened? The author of the books of Samuel is making a startling point. Israel thought they had gone; they thought they could carry the ark into battle and be assured of victory. But their crushing defeat was a remidner—God is not an object. We too slide into the temptation of objectifying God. With it comes devastating consequences.

Israel is a barren place. Worship has disintegrated. Eli, the High Preist, seems distracted and his sons rob the worshipers of their sacrifices and women. 1 Samuel tells us that, "The word of the Lord was rare in those days." We too know what it feels like to be distant from God. To remember his voice and find little evidence of it around us. But God calls Samuel. It is a bit of hope. God is at work again. Samuel and his family give us a picture of a God who persistently speaks to us by name and the ways we can position ourselves to most easily recognize it.

1 Samuel introduces us to a new character, Hannah. She is barren. Israel is barren. With no son and no king, disappointment and discouragement rule the land. Hannah finds little help from those around her. Culture, family, religion—all offer advice. Some of it sounds good, others leave her feeling crushed. But they are all distractions from what God is actually doing. Hannah finds a way through. A way to God. There she finds herself included in God’s plan of salvation.

Simeon didn't know what he was looking for, but he kept watching. The Holy Spirit compelled him. God was up to something—he wasn't sure what. But he was watching for it. Simeon teaches us to look for more this Christmas. He teaches us to watch for salvation.

Jesus ends his prayer with a view toward the future. He realizes that what lies ahead will be full of temptations—most that we will struggle to recognize. He teaches us to open our eyes and pay attention.

Jesus' insistence that we routinely pray for forgiveness is a reminder of how deep our sins are. Jesus doesn't just teach us to pray for forgiveness; he teaches us to practice it in our own forgiving.

Asking for things we need is probably the most common request of prayer. Jesus teaches us to practice is, but he also forces to ask deeper questions about what it is we really need.

Not a single politician anywhere in the country is running with a campaign slogan that promises meekness. We aren't even sure we like being described by the term. But Jesus says that it is, in fact, the meek who will inherit the earth.

We pray a lot about the will of God—mostly hoping God will let us know what's around the corner. In this sermon we discover what it means to pray for Gods will to be done, not just to be known.

There are few themes in the bible more prominent than the kingdom of God. It's not surprising that Jesus includes it, but what does it mean? How does it change the way we pray?

Hallowed isn't a term we use too often—Licoln once used it to hallow the ground at Gettysburg. But be honest, we aren't entirely sure what it means to begin our prayer with it. In this sermon, we work out a definition of this first request and consider how it changes our approach to prayer.

Jesus begins his prayer, not with a request but with a grounding reality—God is our father. Everything that comes after will be shaped by this truth. By Christ, we are made brothers and Sisters.

Before Jesus takes up the task of teaching his disciples how to pray, he first lays out some warnings.

The ending of the book of judges is boring—hard to get through. For several chapters, we felt the tension and sin of Israel building. But no one had expected the story to fizzle out in this kind of mundane complexity. The author of Judges is teaching us an important point about sin.