Potential comes from the heart.

On Sunday the lesson of The Story was on David and the issues of the heart. David was not the first pick of or anyone else. They did not see the potential that David had but God saw the potential that David had in his heart. I Samuel 16:7 teaches the principle that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. Being human we have the tendency to see things mainly through physical eyes and that environment which means we do not always see the potential that someone has and in fact we do not always see the potential we we have. David the youngest of eight boys was chosen over his brothers. God placed something in David that was not in his brothers, God called him to be king. God did though place something in each of son of Jesse. The potential that is in each of us comes from God. In order to reach that potential we must first of all realize it comes from the heart and therefore we must learn to handle the issues of the heart. Solomon in Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." In order to live out what God has placed in us we must allow God to define my heart, refine my heart and then to mature my heart. The is done by loving God with our whole heart and beginning to serve Jesus and His church in whatever area that is presently available. God has called you and placed a great desire upon your heart that will make a difference in the world of your influence. In order to see this become a reality I must deal with the issues of life with a heart that runs after God's heart.
May the Lord who loves us grant His grace to strengthen our heart.

Pastor John

The Story: chapter ten, Standing Tall, Falling Hard

We live in a day where everyone thinks they are right. I know that statement is an over simplifaction of reality but we are losing our moral compass of how we ought to live our lives. In the first 15 chapters of I Samuel we have several stories of families or individual who thought what they are doing was OK for various reasons but in reality they were sowing seeds to their own destruction. Eli and his sons had some of the most important positions in Israel at that time but allowed their own personal satisfaction to dictate what they did rather then following the commands of the Lord. The sons of Samuel had a great godly example but used their influence for personal gain by bribes. King Saul was on top of the world after a couple of victories and all of Israel looked to him but yet disobeyed the word of the Lord through the prophet Samuel because he listen to himself and the pressures of others rather then listening to the Lord. What do all these people have in common? At one time in their life they were living on top of the world, everything was going great but all of them fell intot he judgement of the Lord and the end of their lives ended in disgrace. What does all this have in common for me today? They are examples for us that we are to follow the Lord all the days of our lives. We are to understand that God's ways are always right regardless of how they may appear and when we try to do life our own way it is filled with heartache and the end will be one of destruction and not life. We do not have to go the way of Eli and his son nor the way of king Saul but we can walk in life and hope by doing the following things. Spend time everyday in God's Word and pray, commit to do the right things regardless of the comfort level and make relationships a priority over things.
May the Lord bless you and keep and the Lord shine His face upon you.

Pastor John